Fine Sediment in Open Water

New book gives all ingredients for proper system understanding

Book Announcement

WORLD SCIENTIFIC

 

IMAGE: COVER FOR "FINE SEDIMENT IN OPEN WATER: FROM FUNDAMENTALS TO MODELING" view more 

CREDIT: WORLD SCIENTIFIC

Fine Sediment in Open Water: From Fundamentals to Modeling is mainly written for professional engineers working in estuaries and coastal systems, using more or less advanced numerical models. It provides the basis for a fundamental understanding of the physical, biological and chemical processes governing the transport and fate of fine sediment in open water, and explains how this understanding can steer engineering studies with numerical models. The book is unique in its treatment of processes at a variety of spatial and temporal scales, from micro-scale (i.e. colloid scale) to system-wide scales, and from intra-tidal time scales to decades. It discusses the interaction of various disciplines, amongst which those of hydrodynamics and soft soil mechanics, relevant for fine sediment. The book is also unique in addressing the road from scientific, to engineering and managerial questions via system understanding, the setup of a conceptual model to numerical modelling. It can be considered as a follow-up on the books by Winterwerp and Van Kesteren (2004) and Mehta (2013).

The book started as course notes for the authors’ post-graduate course on Fine Sediment, and still contains the required material and background. Since then, it has progressed and grown into a text book for beginning and experienced scientists and engineers. The book also contains a number of new thoughts that may deserve elaboration in future research.

Fine Sediment in Open Water: From Fundamentals to Modeling retails for US$198 / £175 (hardcover) and is also available in electronic formats. To order or know more about the book, visit http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/12473.

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About the Authors

Prof. Han Winterwerp received his MSc in 1976 on Aeronautical Engineering and his PhD in 1999 at the faculty of Civil Engineering, both at Delft University of Technology. He joined Deltares in 1978 and the university in 1991. After his retirement in 2016 he continued his career as private consultant. His career focused mainly on research and consultancy on the behaviour of cohesive sediment. He has worked in numerous countries on a large variety of natural and engineered sedimentary systems.

Dr. Thijs van Kessel received a PhD degree on fluid mud formation and transport at Delft University of Technology in 1997, following an MSc degree in Chemical Engineering in 1993. Since 1997 he works at Deltares (the Netherlands) on a diversity of topics in the field of cohesive sediment transport phenomena in nature, on the edge between research and application. For his research projects, he has a long track record of collaboration with several universities, whereas for his applied projects the Dutch government is the most important client, followed by private parties.

Prof. Bas van Maren received his MSc and PhD degree in Physical Geography at Utrecht University (the Netherlands). His research revolves around the dynamics of muddy rivers, estuaries and coasts, contributing to both academic and consultancy projects around the world. His key expertise is modelling of fine sediment transport and morphology. He started working with fine sediments in 2004, initially as a postdoc at Delft University at Technology but within a year at Deltares (the Netherlands) as well. Since 2019 he is also visiting professor at East China Normal University (Shanghai, China).

Dr. Bram van Prooijen received his MSc and PhD at Delft University of Technology. After working as engineering consultant, he joined university again. Since the last decade, he is working on hydrodynamics and sediment transport processes in estuaries and coastal seas. Research projects often include field measurements and numerical modelling. He is teaching the course Sediment Dynamics at Delft University of Technology.

About World Scientific Publishing Co.

World Scientific Publishing is a leading international independent publisher of books and journals for the scholarly, research and professional communities. World Scientific collaborates with prestigious organisations like the Nobel Foundation and US National Academies Press to bring high quality academic and professional content to researchers and academics worldwide. The company publishes about 600 books and over 140 journals in various fields annually. To find out more about World Scientific, please visit www.worldscientific.com.

For more information, contact WSPC Communications at communications@wspc.com.

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DOI

10.1142/12473 

Thawing permafrost can accelerate global warming

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF COLOGN

 

IMAGE: OUTCROP OF YEDOMA SEDIMENTS WITH THE THICK ICE MASSES UNDERLAIN BY RIVER SEDIMENTS EXPOSED ON AN ARM OF THE LENA RIVER IN THE RIVER DELTA. view more 

CREDIT: JANET RETHEMEYER

Thawing permafrost in the Arctic could be emitting greenhouse gases from previously unaccounted-for carbon stocks, fuelling global warming. That is the result of a study conducted by a team of geologists led by Professor Dr Janet Rethemeyer at the University of Cologne’s Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, together with colleagues from the University of Hamburg and the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. In the Siberian Arctic, the research team determined the origin of carbon dioxide released from permafrost that is thousands of years old. This research endeavour is part of the German-Russian research endeavour ‘Kopf – Kohlenstoff im Permafrost’, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The paper ‘Sources of CO2 Produced in Freshly Thawed Pleistocene-Age Yedoma Permafrost’ has now appeared in Frontiers in Earth Science.

Global climate change is causing temperatures to rise sharply, especially in the Arctic. Among other things, higher temperatures are causing more and more permafrost soils, which have been frozen for thousands of years, to thaw. Particularly affected is so-called ‘yedoma’ permafrost, which is widespread in areas that were not covered by ice sheets during the last ice age. Yedoma contains up to 80 per cent ice and is therefore also called ice complex. The ground ice can thaw very abruptly, causing the bedrock to collapse and erode. Such processes, known as thermokarst, make carbon previously stored in the frozen ground accessible to microorganisms, which break it down and release it as carbon dioxide and methane. The greenhouse gas release amplifies global warming, which is known as permafrost-carbon feedback.

So far, there are still many uncertainties about the amount of future greenhouse gas release. Among other things, it is not clear how well the ancient carbon that has been frozen in permafrost for thousands of years can be degraded. To find out, the research team took carbon dioxide samples at the Siberian investigation site on the Lena River using specially designed equipment in which carbon dioxide can be stored airtight and transported manner for long periods of time. This is necessary due to the long transport to Germany. Back in Cologne, the researchers then determined the age of the carbon dioxide using the radiocarbon method. In addition, they analysed the non-radioactive carbon isotopes. Both parameters were then used to calculate how much old and young as well as organic and inorganic carbon had been decomposed in the thawing permafrost.

A large proportion of the carbon – up to 80 per cent – comes from ancient organic matter that was freeze-locked into the sediments more than 30,000 years ago. This means that vegetation remains that died thousands of years ago have been very well ‘preserved’ in the frozen sediment, making them an attractive food source for microorganisms in the thawing permafrost.

In addition, the team found out for the first time that up to 18 per cent of carbon dioxide comes from inorganic sources. ‘We did not expect that this previously unnoticed carbon source would account for such a high proportion of the total amount of greenhouse gases released,’ said first author of the study Jan Melchert from the University of Cologne. For more precise climate predictions, it would be necessary to take this source into account. Future research will have to clarify where exactly the inorganic carbon in the yedoma comes from and through which processes it is released.

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JOURNAL

Frontiers in Earth Science

DOI

10.3389/feart.2021.737237/full 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Sources of CO2 Produced in Freshly Thawed Pleistocene-Age Yedoma Permafrost

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

19-Jan-2022

Risk appetite of banks for small merchant renewable energy plants remains low

Peer-Reviewed Publication

KEAI COMMUNICATIONS CO., LTD.

 

IMAGE: A GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF THE SURVEY DR. SUNIO AND HIS TEAM CONDUCTED WITH SIX COMMERCIAL BANKS view more 

CREDIT: VARSOLO SUNIO

As the global demand for power continues to rise, so too does the number of small merchant renewable energy plants, which augment the supplies of existing energy companies. These plants are independent, typically small scale, and focus on renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind.

With more commercial banks pursuing bold sustainability targets in support of the Paris Agreement, there was an expectation that these plants would now find it easier to secure bank financing. However, a study published in the KeAi journal Global Transitions, suggests this is far from true.

Dr. Varsolo Sunio, the research lead, explains: “It used to be nearly impossible for developers of renewable energy projects to secure loans from commercial banks, especially if they were not backed up by long-term contracts with distribution utilities, or guarantees by large conglomerates. However, recently, with the trend towards the ‘greening of banks’, we were hopeful that this would open up more financing possibilities.

“But, contrary to our expectations, this is not really the case – the risk appetite of banks for small developers of merchant renewable energy plants remains low.”

For the study, the research team presented representatives from six banks in the Philippines with 10 options for appraisal, and asked them to assess their potential as credit enhancements or risk mitigants. Dr. Sunio reveals: “We found that commercial banks continue to base their funding decisions on the presence of ‘offtake agreements’, in other words, guaranteed customers, plus a ‘strong principal sponsor’. For small and independent developers of renewable merchant plants, obtaining either of these poses great difficulties.”

However, Dr. Sunio and his team found that government banks in the Philippines were more open to providing credit to small developers, even in the absence of offtake agreements and sponsor guarantees. He attributes this flexibility to the government banks’ mandate to support national development. 

He adds: “Our findings show that while banks acknowledge the role they play as catalysts in mobilising capital to finance the transition to renewable energy, merchant plants continue to be considered risky. We believe that more policies, strategies and innovations need to be explored to provide merchant plants with an opportunity to raise financing.”

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Contact the corresponding author: Varsolo Sunio , varsolo.sunio@uap.asia

The publisher KeAi was established by Elsevier and China Science Publishing & Media Ltd to unfold quality research globally. In 2013, our focus shifted to open access publishing. We now proudly publish more than 100 world-class, open access, English language journals, spanning all scientific disciplines. Many of these are titles we publish in partnership with prestigious societies and academic institutions, such as the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

 

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JOURNAL

Global Transitions

DOI

10.1016/j.glt.2021.12.001 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Case study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Does the greening of banks impact the logics of sustainable financing? The case of bank lending to merchant renewable energy projects in the Philippines

COI STATEMENT

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

USA

Unemployment associated with increase in violence early in COVID-19 pandemic

Study of 16 U.S. cities shows historic level of job losses associated with an increase in firearm violence and homicide

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - DAVIS HEALTH

 

IMAGE: ADJUSTED ASSOCIATION BETWEEN EXCESS UNEMPLOYMENT AND VIOLENT CRIME, 16 US CITIES (BALTIMORE, MD; BOSTON, MA; CHICAGO, IL; CINCINNATI, OH; DALLAS, TX; DENVER, CO; DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA; KANSAS CITY, MO; LOS ANGELES, CA; MILWAUKEE; WI; PHILADELPHIA, PA; PHOENIX, AZ; RIVERSIDE, CA; SACRAMENTO, CA; SAN FRANCISCO, CA; AND SEATTLE, WA) MARCH-JULY 2020. view more 

CREDIT: UC DAVIS VIOLENCE PREVENTION RESEARCH PROGRAM

The sharp rise in unemployment during the five months of the pandemic was associated with an increase in firearm violence and homicide in 16 American cities. That’s the finding of a new study from researchers at the Violence Prevention Research Program (VPRP) at UC Davis. 

The study was published in the Journal of Urban Health.  

The researchers did not find a corresponding increase in other crimes, such as aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and robbery. 

“Economic disadvantage and income inequality have long been associated with increased risk of violence,” said Julia Schleimer, the lead author of the study and a research data analyst at VPRP. “Our results indicate that the acute worsening of economic conditions, as we saw at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, may also increase violence risk.” 

Historic unemployment at the beginning of the pandemic

In March 2020, the number of Americans who abruptly lost their jobs surged to 17.7 million. By April 2020, the unemployment rate in the United States reached 14.7%, the highest since data collection began in 1948. Low-income households in the United States were disproportionately harmed, with low-wage workers losing jobs at five times the rate of middle-wage workers. 

The historic events gave the researchers an opportunity to examine the relationship between increased unemployment and violence separated from systemic or ongoing factors. 

The researchers obtained unemployment data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics for each of the 16 cities. They used unemployment data going back to 2015 to estimate what would likely have been the expected unemployment numbers had the pandemic not occurred. 

Data on firearm violence was obtained from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), a real-time repository for gun violence incidents. Data for other crimes were obtained from city open data portals.

The researchers estimate an average increase of 3.3 firearm violence incidents and 2 homicides per city each month from March to July 2020. That assumes peak unemployment levels in all cities were sustained for the entire 5-month period. 

“Our findings may help us understand why violence occurs and how to prevent it. Policies that reduce unemployment or provide support to the unemployed might reduce violence and improve public health,” said Schleimer. 

One area for future research is looking at the underlying mechanisms associating an increase in unemployment with some types of violent crime. Another is whether unemployment benefits or other financial protections buffer against the adverse consequences of unemployment. 

“Social factors are important determinants of rates of violence, and interventions on those factors are essential to a comprehensive violence prevention effort,” said Garen Wintemute, an emergency department physician and director of VPRP. 

Additional authors on the study include Veronica A. Pear, Christopher D. McCort, Aaron B. Shev, Alaina De Biasi, Elizabeth Tomsich, Shani Buggs, Hannah S. Laqueur and Garen J. Wintemute from the Violence Prevention Research Program.

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JOURNAL

Journal of Urban Health

DOI

10.1007/s11524-021-00605-3 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Data/statistical analysis

ARTICLE TITLE

Unemployment and Crime in US Cities During the Coronavirus Pandemic

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

27-Jan-2022

Post-mortem interval of human skeletal remains accurately determined by means of non-destructive techniques

The UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country is developing a useful, versatile model to accurately determine the post-mortem interval (PMI)

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY

 

IMAGE: THE RESEARCHERS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE BASQUE COUNTRY LUIS BARTOLOMÉ AND ALFREDO SARMIENTO. view more 

CREDIT: JORGE NAVARRO. UPV/EHU.

In the field of forensic analysis there is a significant demand for objectively determining the post-mortem interval (PMI) when human skeletal remains are discovered. So far, a whole range of techniques have been used to establish the approximate time that has elapsed since the death of the individual, but they have significant drawbacks in terms of reliability and accuracy: they provide an approximate interval but not an exact date; they are relatively invasive techniques, which require staining or removal of a part of the bone, etc.

"The aim of this research was precisely to come up with a method capable of determining the relatively accurate post-mortem interval in human remains by using non-destructive measurements," said Luis Bartolomé, technician in the UPV/EHU’s SGIker Central Analysis Service (SCAB).  

So "we analysed a set of 53 actual human skeletal remains with a known post-mortem interval provided by the Department of Legal Medicine, Toxicology and Physical Anthropology of the University of Granada. Using actual samples for the first time, we built and validated a model by combining two non-destructive tools: Raman spectroscopy and chemometrics", explained the author of the paper.

 “Raman spectra," Bartolomé went on to explain, "contain physico-chemical information on nearly all the components of the sample; however, due to their complexity, in most cases it is not possible to differentiate between all the information they contain. Chemometrics is capable of extracting the parameters of interest from the spectra through mathematical and statistical methods".

"By combining both techniques, we have been able to build a model in which the Raman spectrum of each set of skeletal remains analysed is associated with a post-mortem interval. Relating the spectrum to a time interval is no easy task and for this we used statistical models and logarithms that allow us to relate each spectrum to a time. So when we receive human skeletal remains for which we don't know the time that has elapsed since death, what we do is an interpolation by inserting these data into the validated model, and that way a relatively accurate post-mortem interval can be obtained," explained Luis Bartolomé. "The data recorded in the model developed provides valuable, potentially useful, versatile information," he stressed.

According to the UPV/EHU researcher, "the combination of both techniques is a significant achievement for forensic medicine and anthropology. However, there is always room for improvement as these types of models perform better the more samples there are and the more varied they are; the model includes more heterogeneity and responds more robustly to a wider range of cases.” 

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JOURNAL

Forensic Science International

DOI

10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.111087 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Estimation of the post-mortem interval of human skeletal remains using Raman spectroscopy and chemometrics

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

29-Oct-2021

A game changer in water electrolysis technology for production of green hydrogen energy

The novel high-performance anion exchange membrane water electrolyzers (AEMWEs) technology offsets the disadvantage of the high cost in the conventional water electrolysis technology

Peer-Reviewed Publication

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

 

IMAGE: SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF THE AEMWE, WHERE THE CATALYST LAYER CONSISTS OF IONOMERS AND CATALYSTS view more 

CREDIT: KOREA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY(KIST)

In recent times, hydrogen has drawn significant attention as a potential clean energy resource as an alternative to fossil fuels. In particular, there has been active research and development of water electrolysis technology that extracts hydrogen from water to produce green energy and avoids the emission of greenhouse gases. The proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer (PEMWE) technology, which is currently present in some handful of advanced countries holds core material technology and uses expensive noble metal-based catalysts and perfluorocarbon-based proton exchange membranes. Such technology results in high costs of system manufacturing. To address these limitations of the conventional technology, a research team in Korea has recently developed core technology for the next-generation water electrolysis system that has significantly improved the durability and performance while significantly lowering the cost of producing green hydrogen energy.

Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST, President Yoon, Seok-Jin) announced the project under the joint research between the research team of Dr. So Young Lee at the Center for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Research and under Prof. Young Moo Lee of the Department of Energy Engineering, Hanyang University, a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) for anion exchange membrane water electrolyzers (AEMWE) was developed that is expected to replace the costly existing PEMWE technology.

AEMWE, which uses an anion exchange membrane and electrode binder, does not rely on the expensive platinum group-metal electrodes and replaces the separator plate material of the water electrolysis cell with iron instead of titanium. When comparing the price of catalyst and separator material alone, the manufacturing cost is reduced by approximately 3,000 times that of the existing PEMWE. However, it has not been commercially utilized owing to its low performance compared to that of the PEMWEs and durability issues of less than 100 h of sustained operation.

The research team developed poly(fluorenyl-co-aryl piperidinium) (PFAP)-based anion exchange materials (electrolyte membrane and electrode binder) with high ion conductivity and durability under alkaline conditions by increasing the specific surface area within the structure and based on this technology, a membrane electrode assembly was developed. The developed material represented excellent durability of more than 1,000 h of operation and has achieved a new record cell performance of 7.68 A/cm2. This is about six times the performance of existing anion exchange materials and about 1.2 times that of the expensive commercial PEMWE technology (6 A/cm2).

The technology has overcome the performance and durability issues of the core materials pointed out as limitations in the AEMWE technology to date and has raised the quality of the technology to such a level that allows replacement of the PEMWE technology. In addition to the excellent performance and durability, the commercialization of the developed anion exchange membrane materials has been underway with the incorporation of large-capacity and large-area applications.

Dr. So Young Lee of KIST commented, "Our team has developed a material and high-efficiency technology that goes beyond the limitations of the existing water electrolysis technology. This technology is expected to lay the foundation for introducing the next-generation water electrolysis technology that allows a significant reduction of the cost involved in the green hydrogen production." Professor Young Moo Lee of Hanyang University commented, "The developed material has a high potential for application as a core material for not only water electrolysis but also for the hydrogen fuel cells, carbon capture utilization and direct ammonia fuel cells, which are the next-generation hydrogen industry."

 

CAPTION

A graphic image of a high-performance and high-durability next-generation AEMWE device that produces green hydrogen by receiving electricity from renewable energy.

CREDIT

Korea Institute of Science and Technology(KIST)

USAGE RESTRICTIONS

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Korea Institute of Science and Technology(KIST), founded as the first multidisciplinary government-funded research institute in Korea, established a national development strategy based on science and technology and disseminated various essential industrial technologies. Now, half a century later, KIST is elevating Korea's status in the field of science and technology through world-leading fundamental technology R&D. Looking to the future, KIST will continue to strive to be a premier research institute, pursuing a brighter future of human.

This research was supported by the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Lim Hyesook) and was conducted as one of the institutional research program of KIST and the material-components technology development project of the Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology. The research was published in the recent issue of 'Energy & Environmental Science' (IF: 38.532, JCR top 0.182%).

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JOURNAL

Energy & Environmental Science

DOI

10.1039/D1EE02642A 

ARTICLE TITLE

High-performance anion exchange membrane water electrolyzers with a current density of 7.68 A cm-2 and durability of 1000 h

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

4-Nov-2021

UCF to lead $10m NASA project to develop zero-carbon jet engines

The innovation, which will run on ammonia, may revolutionize propulsion systems for commercial aviation and will help reach a carbon-free future

Grant and Award Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA

 

IMAGE: ENGINEERING PROFESSOR JAY KAPAT LEADS THE TEAM. KAPAT IS A RECOGNIZED EXPERT IN ENERGY RESEARCH. HE LEADS CATER, WHICH HAS BROUGHT TOGETHER EXPERTS WHO ARE SOLVING SOME OF THE MOST COMPLEX RESEARCH PROBLEMS IN TURBOMACHINERY FOR POWER GENERATION, AVIATION, AND SPACE PROPULSION. KAPAT HAS MULTIPLE DEGREES INCLUDING A DOCTORATE IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING FROM MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. HE IS A FELLOW OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS, AND AN AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS ASSOCIATE FELLOW. HE JOINED UCF IN 1997 AND HAS PUBLISHED MORE THAN 350 ARTICLES, MANY OF WHICH ARE HIGHLY CITED BY RESEARCHERS AROUND THE WORLD. view more 

CREDIT: UCF/KAREN NORUM

The University of Central Florida (UCF) is developing new technology that is expected to make airplane engines emission free, potentially revolutionizing the aviation industry.

UCF put together a team of experts and stakeholders to evaluate their innovation, which aims to not only make aviation fuel green, but also create engines and fueling systems that easily integrate into current airport infrastructure thus saving airports and aircraft manufacturers millions of dollars as they look to retrofit.

“We don’t want to create something that will be too cumbersome and expensive to implement,” says lead investigator and UCF Engineering Professor Jay Kapat. “If we want people to adopt this green tech, it needs to be scalable. To adopt hydrogen, for example, we can’t expect every airport to set up large cryogenic liquid hydrogen systems like Kennedy Space Center. That’s unreasonable.”

With this practical approach, Kapat put together a team of experts from UCF, Georgia Tech and Purdue and with industry experts from Boeing, General Electric, ANSYS, Southwest Research Institute and the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority. The team landed a $10 million five-year NASA University Leadership Initiative grant to get the ball rolling.

“We have a good concept,” Kapat says. “And by having our partners in industry we know we’ll fine tune and be ready for technology transition, so we can provide a greener future for our children.”

The Tech

Kapat and several of his UCF colleagues in engineering and the Florida Space Institute propose using liquid ammonia (NH3) as the fuel for aircraft which, upon combustion, will produce harmless emissions that are green while still providing enough power to keep the aircraft aloft. At high altitudes ammonia is naturally liquid thereby limiting the need for special handling. Airports and airplanes are expected to store the ammonia in fuel tanks. Ammonia is commonly used as a fertilizer and, when mixed with water, in some household cleaners.

Ammonia will be the hydrogen carrier, which will be catalytically “cracked” to release nitrogen and hydrogen. The hydrogen will be burned in the onboard combustors (inside the engine) to provide the power. Airports and aircraft are expected to store the NH3 in fuel tanks. Excess NH3 will then be used to catalytically reduce any NOx left in the exhaust converting it to nitrogen and water. 

When the hydrogen is released, there will be an added bonus, Kapat explained. The conversion process also provides cooling, which can be used to keep engines from overheating and burning out. The impact may be better engine performance and efficiency. Engine exhaust heat is then converted back to electricity for onboard use, thus reducing power draw from the core engines.

The team also is developing new components for jet engines to be used in conjunction with the new fuel. The team is using the 737-8 class for a baseline as it represents nearly a quarter of all commercial aircraft, according to Boeing. 

The Team

“This project would not have been possible without our internal and external partners,” Kapat says.

Catalyst development and improvement of known catalysis pathways are key to the UCF effort and will be undertaken in Professor Richard Blair’s laboratory at the Florida Space Institute. Engineering Professor Subith Vasu will lead the efforts to design tools, computer models, and combustion testing from his lab. Professor Kapat will lead a team that will conduct thermal management and system integration at UCF’s Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research (CATER), which he leads. UCF Chemical Safety and Security Coordinator Sandra Hick will oversee safety and occupational health issues that are central to any use of ammonia and hydrogen. Georgia Tech will provide its aviation simulation expertise and Purdue is providing some of its unique labs and expertise in combustion and aerodynamics. Boeing is providing the integration know-how to the aircraft, and GE is contributing its knowledge of the jet engines. Other industry partners are advising on large scale simulation, the feasibility of the technology in the real world and providing a pathway for technology transition. Student training and workforce development are also key aspects of the overall project. Several UCF students working under faculty in the various labs will contribute to the research.

The UCF team includes: 

• Vasu, an expert in spectroscopy, propulsion combustion and optical diagnostics
• Blair, an expert in energy efficient catalytic processing of bio-derived compounds for fuels and chemical feedstock
• Hick, chemical safety and security coordinator for UCF Environmental Health and Safety.
• Hans-Jürgen Kiesow, a courtesy professor in CATER at UCF. A retired Siemens vice president who over saw gas turbines design and development, and management of complex global teams. 
• Erik Fernandez, a research assistant professor in Engineering
• Ladislav Vesely and Marcel Otto, post-doctoral scholars funded in part by UCF’s Preeminent Scholar’s program

Other collaborators are:

Terrence Meyer, Guillermo Paniagua form Purdue University

Dimitri Marvis and Jonathan Gladin from Georgia Institute of Technology

Greg Natsui, ’10 ’12 MS ’15PhD and Keith McManus from GE

Michael Stoia, Kevin Jui and Nickolas Applegate from Boeing

Swati Saxena from ANSYS

Joshua Schmitt ‘15MS, Tim Allison and Grant Musgrove from the Southwest Research Institute

Kevin Thompson from the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority.

Kapat is recognized expert in energy research.  He leads CATER, which has brought together experts who are solving some of the most complex research problems in turbomachinery for power generation, aviation, and space propulsion. Kapat has multiple degrees including a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Associate fellow. He joined UCF in 1997 and has published more than 350 articles, many of which are highly cited by researchers around the world.

The University of Central Florida is a metropolitan public research university in Orlando. Founded in 1963, UCF and its colleges offer more than 220 degrees from the university’s main campus, downtown campus, hospitality campus, health sciences campus, online and through multiple regional locations. The university benefits from a diverse faculty, staff and student body who create a welcoming environment and thrive on the opportunity to learn, discover and transform lives. Learn more at ucf.edu.

21st Century Jobs in Healthcare, Education, Space and Defense will require modeling and simulation talent

$1M Department of Education Grant to create modeling and simulation pipeline in Florida

Grant and Award Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA

 

IMAGE: PROFESSOR ROGER AZEVEDO IS THE LEAD INVESTIGATOR ON THE GRANT. HE SPECIALIZES IN INTELLIGENT SYSTEM DESIGN — THE INTERSECTION OF INTELLIGENT MACHINES AND HOW HUMANS USE THEM. view more 

CREDIT: UCF/KAREN NORUM

Many of tomorrow’s jobs haven’t been imagined yet, but those well versed in cutting-edge technologies, such as modeling and simulation will have the competitive edge. 

UCF’s School of Modeling, Simulation and Training (SMST) is already a national leader in modeling and simulation research and education. The Department of Defense employs many of our doctoral graduates as do a range of commercial companies. Now, thanks to a Department of Education $1 million grant, UCF will strengthen its existing graduate program, create a new undergraduate modeling and simulation curriculum and launch outreach programs for high schools, all to create a pipeline of talent that will help lead the nation in this exploding area of innovation.

“It is essential to build a future workforce with the critical skills and competencies in modeling and simulation so that we retain our competitiveness in national security and space,” says Grace Bochenek, the school’s director and a co-investigator on the grant. “The new skills are going to be necessary across many industries from security and space to education and healthcare.”

Congress declared modeling and simulation a National Critical Technology as early as 2007. It has only become more important since then as the technology has advanced. At UCF, modeling and simulation research has helped train firefighters, co-pilots, fighter pilots, law enforcement, teachers, clinicians and military medics, among others. There’s also ongoing research using simulation that focuses on teams that will travel together on long missions to other planets and asteroids.

Even some of the most popular video games kids are playing are simulations —Fortnite, Halo, etc.  One of the hottest holiday toys of 2021 was the Oculus, a virtual reality home system that transports users into a simulated world.

“We can’t lose sight of the human element in the design and use of intelligent machines for training and education,” says SMST Professor Roger Azevedo, the lead investigator on the grant. He specializes in intelligent system design — the intersection of intelligent machines and how humans use them.

Part of Azevedo’s work will focus on ensuring the new courses and curriculum developed accounts for the human element. The new courses and curriculum will take into consideration the role of cognitive, metacognitive, affective, and motivational self-regulatory processes during learning with advanced learning technologies, which is Azevedo’s area of expertise. He focuses on understanding the complex interactions between humans and intelligent learning systems by using interdisciplinary methods to measure cognitive, metacognitive, emotional, motivational, and social processes and their impact on learning, reasoning, performance, and transfer. Even more critical is that students learn how to take on complex challenges by using critical thinking/problem solving skills to solve societal challenges using innovative and transformative new immersive technologies and platforms, such as Metaverse, as research, learning, training, and assessment tools.

“This is exciting work, and the future is full of possibility because simulation and modeling has so many potential applications to help people and our society as a whole,” Azevedo says. “We can’t wait to get started.”

Azevedo also has affiliations with UCF’s departments of computer science and internal medicine. He co-leads UCF’s Learning Sciences cluster, which develops new technologies to improve learning outcomes and human performance, exploring how we interact with and learn using machines. He received his doctorate in educational psychology from McGill University and completed postdoctoral training in cognitive psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. He joined UCF in 2018 and in 2021 he was named among the top 2% of researchers in his field by the journal PLOS Biology.

The award comes during SMST’s 40th anniversary year, which has seen modeling and simulation go from small scale projects to being used in practically every field.