In the last five years, China has seen the technological development of intelligent mining and the application of the longwall automation technology developed by the Longwall Automation Steering Committee. This paper summarizes this great achievement, which occurred during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–2015), and which included the development of a set of intelligent equipment for hydraulic-powered supports, information transfers, dynamic decision-making, performance coordination, and the achievement of a high level of reliability despite difficult conditions. Within China, the intelligent system of a set of hydraulic-powered supports was completed, with our own intellectual property rights. An intelligent mining model was developed that permitted unmanned operation and single-person inspection on the work face. With these technologies, the number of miners on the work face can now be significantly reduced. Miners are only required to monitor mining machines on the roadway or at the surface control center, since intelligent mining can be applied to extract middle-thick or thick coal seams. As a result, miners’ safety has been improved. Finally, this paper discusses the prospects and challenges of intelligent mining over the next ten years.
In this article, we discuss the leading thin-film photovoltaic (PV) technology based on the Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) compound semiconductor. This contribution includes a general comparison with the conventional Si-wafer-based PV technology and discusses the basics of the CIGS technology as well as advances in world-record-level conversion efficiency, production, applications, stability, and future developments with respect to a flexible product. Once in large-scale mass production, the CIGS technology has the highest potential of all PV technologies for cost-efficient clean energy generation.
This paper reviews the development history of alkali element doping on Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells and summarizes important achievements that have been made in this field. The influences of incorporation strategies on CIGS absorbers and device performances are also reviewed. By analyzing CIGS surface structure and electronic property variation induced by alkali fluoride (NaF and KF) post-deposition treatment (PDT), we discuss and interpret the following issues: ① The delamination of CIGS thin films induced by Na incorporation facilitates CuInSe2 formation and inhibits Ga during low-temperature co-evaporation processes. ② The mechanisms of carrier density increase due to defect passivation by Na at grain boundaries and the surface. ③ A thinner buffer layer improves the short-circuit current without open-circuit voltage loss. This is attributed not only to better buffer layer coverage in the early stage of the chemical bath deposition process, but also to higher donor defect (
Under intense environmental pressure, the global energy sector is promoting the integration of renewable energy into interconnected energy systems. The demand-side management (DSM) of energy systems has drawn considerable industrial and academic attention in attempts to form new flexibilities to respond to variations in renewable energy inputs to the system. However, many DSM concepts are still in the experimental demonstration phase. One of the obstacles to DSM usage is that the current information infrastructure was mainly designed for centralized systems, and does not meet DSM requirements. To overcome this barrier, this paper proposes a novel information infrastructure named the Internet of Energy Things (IoET) in order to make DSM practicable by basing it on the latest wireless communication technology: the low-power wide-area network (LPWAN). The primary advantage of LPWAN over general packet radio service (GPRS) and area Internet of Things (IoT) is its wide-area coverage, which comes with minimum power consumption and maintenance costs. Against this background, this paper briefly reviews the representative LPWAN technologies of narrow-band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and Long Range (LoRa) technology, and compares them with GPRS and area IoT technology. Next, a wireless-to-cloud architecture is proposed for the IoET, based on the main technical features of LPWAN. Finally, this paper looks forward to the potential of IoET in various DSM application scenarios.
Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) is an increasingly important approach for producing liquid fuels and chemicals via syngas—that is, synthesis gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen—generated from coal, natural gas, or biomass. In FTS, dispersed transition metal nanoparticles are used to catalyze the reactions underlying the formation of carbon-carbon bonds. Catalytic activity and selectivity are strongly correlated with the electronic and geometric structure of the nanoparticles, which depend on the particle size, morphology, and crystallographic phase of the nanoparticles. In this article, we review recent works dealing with the aspects of bulk and surface sensitivity of the FTS reaction. Understanding the different catalytic behavior in more detail as a function of these parameters may guide the design of more active, selective, and stable FTS catalysts.
There is widespread, though by no means universal, recognition of the importance of carbon capture and storage (CCS) as a carbon mitigation technology. However, the rate of deployment does not match what is required for global temperatures to stay well below 2?°C. Although some consider the hurdles to achieving the widespread application of CCS to be almost insurmountable, a more optimistic view is that a great deal is now known about CCS through research, demonstration, and deployment. We know how to do it; we are confident it can be done safely and effectively; we know what it costs; and we know that costs are decreasing and will continue to do so. We also know that the world will need CCS as long as countries, companies, and communities continue to use fossil fuels for energy and industrial processes. What is lacking are the necessary policy drivers, along with a technology-neutral approach to decrease carbon emissions in a cost-effective and timely manner while retaining the undoubted benefits of ready access to reliable and secure electricity and energy-intensive industrial products. In this paper, Australia is used as an example of what has been undertaken in CCS over the past 20 years, particularly in research and demonstration, but also in international collaboration. Progress in the large-scale deployment of CCS in Australia has been too slow. However, the world’s largest storage project will soon be operational in Australia as part of the Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, and investigations are underway into several large-scale CCS Flagship program opportunities. The organization and progress of the Cooperative Research Centre for Greenhouse Gas Technologies (CO2CRC) Otway Project, which is currently Australia’s only operational storage project, is discussed in some detail because of its relevance to the commercial deployment of CCS. The point is made that there is scope for building on this Otway activity to investigate more broadly (through the proposed Otway Stage 3 and Deep Earth Energy and Environment Programme (AusDEEP)) the role of the subsurface in carbon reduction. There are challenges ahead if CCS is to be deployed as widely as bodies such as the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) consider to be necessary. Closer international collaboration in CCS will be essential to meeting that challenge.
Membrane gas separation is one of the most promising technologies for the separation of carbon dioxide (CO2) from various gas streams. One application of this technology is the treatment of flue gases from combustion processes for the purpose of carbon capture and storage. For this application, poly(ethylene oxide)-containing block copolymers such as Pebax® or PolyActive™ polymer are well suited. The thin-film composite membrane that is considered in this overview employs PolyActive™ polymer as a selective layer material. The membrane shows excellent CO2 permeances of up to 4 m3(STP)·(m2·h·bar)−1 (1 bar= 105 Pa) at a carbon dioxide/nitrogen (CO2/N2) selectivity exceeding 55 at ambient temperature. The membrane can be manufactured reproducibly on a pilot scale and mounted into flat-sheet membrane modules of different designs. The operating performance of these modules can be accurately predicted by specifically developed simulation tools, which employ single-gas permeation data as the only experimental input. The performance of membranes and modules was investigated in different pilot plant studies, in which flue gas and biogas were used as the feed gas streams. The investigated processes showed a stable separation performance, indicating the applicability of PolyActive™ polymer as a membrane material for industrial-scale gas processing.
This article provides a survey of recently emerged methods for wind turbine control. Multivariate control approaches to the optimization of power capture and the reduction of loads in components under time-varying turbulent wind fields have been under extensive investigation in recent years. We divide the related research activities into three categories: modeling and dynamics of wind turbines, active control of wind turbines, and passive control of wind turbines. Regarding turbine dynamics, we discuss the physical fundamentals and present the aeroelastic analysis tools. Regarding active control, we review pitch control, torque control, and yaw control strategies encompassing mathematical formulations as well as their applications toward different objectives. Our survey mostly focuses on blade pitch control, which is considered one of the key elements in facilitating load reduction while maintaining power capture performance. Regarding passive control, we review techniques such as tuned mass dampers, smart rotors, and microtabs. Possible future directions are suggested.
The stability of pump-turbines is of great importance to the operation of pumped storage power (PSP) stations. Both hydraulic instabilities and operational instabilities have been reported in PSP stations in China. In order to provide a reference to the engineers and scientists working on pump-turbines, this paper summarizes the hydraulic instabilities and performance characteristics that promote the operational instabilities encountered in pump-turbine operations in China. Definitions, analytical methods, numerical and experimental studies, and main results are clarified. Precautions and countermeasures are also provided based on a literature review. The gaps between present studies and the need for engineering practice are pointed out.
China’s energy supply-and-demand model and two related carbon emission scenarios, including a planned peak scenario and an advanced peak scenario, are designed taking into consideration China’s economic development, technological progress, policies, resources, environmental capacity, and other factors. The analysis of the defined scenarios provides the following conclusions: Primary energy and power demand will continue to grow leading up to 2030, and the growth rate of power demand will be much higher than that of primary energy demand. Moreover, low carbonization will be a basic feature of energy supply-and-demand structural changes, and non-fossil energy will replace oil as the second largest energy source. Finally, energy-related carbon emissions could peak in 2025 through the application of more efficient energy consumption patterns and more low-carbon energy supply modes. The push toward decarbonization of the power industry is essential for reducing the peak value of carbon emissions.
Advanced nuclear reactors offer safe, clean, and reliable energy at the global scale. The development of such devices relies heavily upon computational models, from the pre-conceptual stages through detailed design, licensing, and operation. An integrated reactor modeling framework that enables seamless communication, coupling, automation, and continuous development brings significant new capabilities and efficiencies to the practice of reactor design. In such a system, key performance metrics (e.g., optimal fuel management, peak cladding temperature in design-basis accidents, levelized cost of electricity) can be explicitly linked to design inputs (e.g., assembly duct thickness, tolerances), enabling an exceptional level of design consistency. Coupled with high-performance computing, thousands of integrated cases can be executed simultaneously to analyze the full system, perform complete sensitivity studies, and efficiently and robustly evaluate various design tradeoffs. TerraPower has developed such a tool—the Advanced Reactor Modeling Interface (ARMI) code system—and has deployed it to support the TerraPower Traveling Wave Reactor design and other innovative energy products currently under development. The ARMI code system employs pre-existing tools with strong pedigrees alongside many new physics and data management modules necessary for innovative design. Verification and validation against previous and new physical measurements, which remain an essential element of any sound design, are being carried out. This paper summarizes the integrated core engineering tools and practices in production at TerraPower.
An increased global supply of minerals is essential to meet the needs and expectations of a rapidly rising world population. This implies extraction from greater depths. Autonomous mining systems, developed through sustained R&D by equipment suppliers, reduce miner exposure to hostile work environments and increase safety. This places increased focus on “ground control” and on rock mechanics to define the depth to which minerals may be extracted economically. Although significant efforts have been made since the end of World War II to apply mechanics to mine design, there have been both technological and organizational obstacles. Rock in situ is a more complex engineering material than is typically encountered in most other engineering disciplines. Mining engineering has relied heavily on empirical procedures in design for thousands of years. These are no longer adequate to address the challenges of the 21st century, as mines venture to increasingly greater depths. The development of the synthetic rock mass (SRM) in 2008 provides researchers with the ability to analyze the deformational behavior of rock masses that are anisotropic and discontinuous—attributes that were described as the defining characteristics of in situ rock by Leopold Müller, the president and founder of the International Society for Rock Mechanics (ISRM), in 1966. Recent developments in the numerical modeling of large-scale mining operations (e.g., caving) using the SRM reveal unanticipated deformational behavior of the rock. The application of massive parallelization and cloud computational techniques offers major opportunities: for example, to assess uncertainties in numerical predictions; to establish the mechanics basis for the empirical rules now used in rock engineering and their validity for the prediction of rock mass behavior beyond current experience; and to use the discrete element method (DEM) in the optimization of deep mine design. For the first time, mining—and rock engineering—will have its own mechanics-based “laboratory.” This promises to be a major tool in future planning for effective mining at depth. The paper concludes with a discussion of an opportunity to demonstrate the application of DEM and SRM procedures as a laboratory, by back-analysis of mining methods used over the 80-year history of the Mount Lyell Copper Mine in Tasmania.
This paper reviews the recent achievements made by our team in the mitigation of rockburst risk. It includes the development of neural network modeling on rockburst risk assessment for deep gold mines in South Africa, an intelligent microseismicity monitoring system and sensors, an understanding of the rockburst evolution process using laboratory and in situ tests and monitoring, the establishment of a quantitative warning method for the location and intensities of different types of rockburst, and the development of measures for the dynamic control of rockburst. The mitigation of rockburst at the Hongtoushan copper mine is presented as an illustrative example.
Mineral consumption is increasing rapidly as more consumers enter the market for minerals and as the global standard of living increases. As a result, underground mining continues to progress to deeper levels in order to tackle the mineral supply crisis in the 21st century. However, deep mining occurs in a very technical and challenging environment, in which significant innovative solutions and best practice are required and additional safety standards must be implemented in order to overcome the challenges and reap huge economic gains. These challenges include the catastrophic events that are often met in deep mining engineering: rockbursts, gas outbursts, high in situ and redistributed stresses, large deformation, squeezing and creeping rocks, and high temperature. This review paper presents the current global status of deep mining and highlights some of the newest technological achievements and opportunities associated with rock mechanics and geotechnical engineering in deep mining. Of the various technical achievements, unmanned working-faces and unmanned mines based on fully automated mining and mineral extraction processes have become important fields in the 21st century.
Rockburst is an important phenomenon that has affected many deep underground mines around the world. An understanding of this phenomenon is relevant to the management of such events, which can lead to saving both costs and lives. Laboratory experiments are one way to obtain a deeper and better understanding of the mechanisms of rockburst. In a previous study by these authors, a database of rockburst laboratory tests was created; in addition, with the use of data mining (DM) techniques, models to predict rockburst maximum stress and rockburst risk indexes were developed. In this paper, we focus on the analysis of a database of in situ cases of rockburst in order to build influence diagrams, list the factors that interact in the occurrence of rockburst, and understand the relationships between these factors. The in situ rockburst database was further analyzed using different DM techniques ranging from artificial neural networks (ANNs) to naive Bayesian classifiers. The aim was to predict the type of rockburst—that is, the rockburst level—based on geologic and construction characteristics of the mine or tunnel. Conclusions are drawn at the end of the paper.
To understand the resource features and geology in the deep Jinchuan nickel deposit, difficult geological conditions were systematically analyzed, including high stress, fragmentized ore rock, prevalent deformation, difficult tunnel support, complicated rock mechanics, and low mining recovery. An integrated technology package was built for safe, efficient, and continuous mining in a deep, massive, and complex nickel and cobalt mine. This was done by the invention of a large-area continuous mining method with honeycomb drives; the establishment of ground control theory and a technology package for high-stress and fragmented ore rock; and the development of a new type of backfilling cement material, along with a deep backfilling technology that comprises the pipeline transport of high-density slurry with coarse aggregates. In this way, good solutions to existing problems were found to permit the efficient exploitation and comprehensive utilization of the resources in the deep Jinchuan nickel mine. In addition, a technological demonstration in an underground mine was performed using the cemented undercut-and-fill mining method for stressful, fragmented, and rheological rock.
As the most important nanoporous material, zeolites, which have intricate micropores, are essential heterogeneous catalysts in industrial processes. Zeolites are generally synthesized with organic templates under hydrothermal conditions; however, this method is environmentally unfriendly and costly due to the formation of harmful gases and polluted water. This article briefly summarizes the role of organic templates and describes designed routes for the organotemplate-free synthesis of zeolites, aided by zeolite seeds and zeolite seeds solution. Furthermore, this review explicates that the micropore volume decreases with an increase of the Si/Al ratios in the organotemplate-free synthesis of zeolite products, where Na+ exists as an alkali cation. This feature is very important in directing the synthesis of zeolite catalysts with controllable Si/Al ratios under organotemplate-free conditions, and is thus important for the efficient design of zeolites.