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As the knowledge about anthropogenic impacts of climate change has grown, the awareness of the contributions from treatment of wastewater has widened the scope for wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Not only shall ever stricter effluent constraints be met, but also energy efficiency be increased, greenhouse gases mitigated and resources recovered. All under a constant pressure on costs. The main
Problems with bottlenecks in district heating networks occur when the pipes have too small dimensions to sufficiently meet customer needs. This may result in insufficient differential pressure in DH areas attached to these pipes. Bottlenecks are especially common in expanding DH networks, as previously sufficient pipe diameters may become too small when more DH consumers are connected to the DH ne
Spark ablation is an advantageous method for the generation of metallic nanoparticles with defined particle sizes and compositions. The reaction of the metal particles with the carrier gas during the synthesis and, therefore, the incorporation of those light elements into structural voids or even compound formation was confirmed for hydrides and oxides but has only been suspected to occur for nitr
A stable and convenient optical system to realize the forward phase-matching geometry for degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) is demonstrated in the mid-infrared spectral region by measuring DFWM signals generated in acetylene (C2H2) and hydrogen chloride (HCl) molecules by probing the fundamental ro-vibrational transitions. IR laser pulses tunable from 2900 cm(-1) to 3350 cm(-1) with a 0.025 cm(-1
Using both synchrotron-based photoemission electron microscopy/spectroscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy, we obtain a complete picture of the surface composition, morphology, and electronic structure of InP nanowires. Characterization is done at all relevant length scales from micrometer to nanometer. We investigate nanowire surfaces with native oxide and molecular adsorbates res
This thesis approaches the challenges of data centre resource efficiency and global water scarcity through a techno-economic analysis of a desalination system driven by data centre waste heat. Membrane distillation is selected as a high-potential technology for this application and is examined through a case study of a hypothetical 1.5 MW direct-to-chip data centre located in Barcelona, Spain. Thr
Renewable diesel fuels may reduce greenhouse gas emissions and particulate matter compared to fossil diesel, but the toxicity of their combustion products remains unclear. This study assessed pulmonary effects of renewable diesel exhaust particles in female C57BL/6NTac mice after single intratracheal instillation (6, 18, or 54 µg/mouse). Particles were generated from renewable fuels (rapeseed meth
The preparation of oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts with high activity, stability and low platinum loading has always been the focus of research. The single-atom platinum supported catalyst greatly improves the utilization of platinum, but the catalytic activity and selectivity are greatly affected by the platinum coordination environment, and the pre
We study close encounters involving massive main-sequence stars and the evolution of the exotic products of these encounters as common-envelope systems or possible hypernova progenitors. We show that parabolic encounters between low- and high-mass stars and between two high-mass stars with small periastrons result in mergers on time-scales of a few tens of stellar free-fall times (a few tens of ho
To harvest the benefits of III-V nanowires in optoelectronic devices, the development of ternary materials with controlled doping is needed. In this work, we performed a systematic study of n-type dopant incorporation in dense InxGa(1-x)P nanowire arrays using tetraethyl tin (TESn) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) as dopant precursors. The morphology, crystal structure and material composition of the na
Plants require daily coordinated regulation of energy metabolism for optimal growth and survival and therefore need to integrate cellular responses with both mitochondrial and plastid retrograde signaling. Using a forward genetic screen to characterize regulators of alternative oxidase1a (rao) mutants, we identified RAO2/Arabidopsis NAC domain-containing protein17 (ANAC017) as a direct positive re
In a future fossil-free circular economy, the petroleum-based plastics industry must be converted to non-fossil feedstock. A known alternative is bio-based plastics, but a relatively unexplored option is deriving the key plastic building blocks, hydrogen and carbon, from electricity through electrolytic processes combined with carbon capture and utilization technology. In this paper the future dem
Dimethyldodecylamine-N-oxide (DDAO) has only one polar atom that is able to interact with water. Still, this surfactant shows very hydrophilic properties: in mixtures with water, it forms normal liquid crystalline phases and micelles. Moreover, there is data in the literature indicating that the hydration of this surfactant is driven by enthalpy while other studies show that hydration of surfactan
The discussion on the Anthropocene has increased the urgency to promote a sustainable society, considering the planetary boundaries, population growth and resource scarcity. Thus, the United Nations created the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development to address this challenge, including 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 SDG targets. In this context, the energy sector is one of the ma
With growing interest in sustainable civil supersonic and hypersonic aviation, there is a need to model the combustion of alternative, sustainable jet fuels. This work presents numerical simulations of several related phenomena, including laminar flames, ignition, and spray flames. Two conventional jet fuels, Jet A and JP-5, and two alternative jet fuels, C1 and C5, are targeted. The laminar burni
This work investigates the effects of atmospheric-pressure nanosecond (ns) pulsed plasma discharges on NH3/air flames using optical emission spectroscopy (OES). Firstly, spatially-resolved OES in the 200–800 nm range of NH3/air flames with and without discharges are presented to identify the plasma-induced excited species (such as N2* and H*). Then, time-resolved OES with ns timescale resolution a
Light absorbing carbonaceous aerosols produced from combustion span over a range of physicochemical properties. Soot is the most recognized species in this category and its formation process involves gradual maturation from amorphous young soot with a high hydrogen-to-carbon-ratio toward mature soot aggregates. In this work, the optical response of a single particle soot photometer (SP2) to electr
Three-dimensional Large Eddy Simulations (LES) are conducted on a non-premixed hydrogen-air annular rotating detonation combustor (RDC). A 22-step finite-rate chemistry reaction mechanism and a flow solver previously developed for high-speed reacting flow are used to perform the LES’. The selected case is an RDC designed by the US Air Force Research Laboratory and has been studied experimentally a
