Sustainable Technologies for Green Economy: Table of Contents

Sustainability of polymer composites and its critical role in revolutionising wind power for green future

P. Subadra, Sharath — 2021-05-06T00:00:00Z

Sustainable Technologies for Green Economy, Vol. 1, Issue 1, 2021, p. 1-7.
Sharath P. Subadra, Paulius Griskevicius
Fibre reinforced polymer composites are gaining wide acceptability in different sectors due their high specific mechanical properties. They have effectively replaced conventional material like metals in many applications thus imparting lighter weight with higher efficiency. Wind energy sector has grown tremendously over the last decade and as per “The Global Wind Turbine Market-Forecasts from 2020 to 2025”, global wind turbine market was valued at US$ 90.144 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.34 % to reach an estimated market size of US$123.154 billion by 2025. Wind turbine blades are fabricated using fibre reinforced composites with ideally a balsa or foam core. The composites used in this case are essentially glass reinforced in epoxy resins, and these highly engineered materials are difficult to recycle as epoxy is a thermoset resin and are not re-mouldable. This poses an environmental problem and a loss in terms of recoverable capital. Thermoplastics as against thermosets could be an alternative resin material for the blades but this has been less explored by the wind sector. The use of thermoplastic could impart cost reductions due to shorter manufacturing cycle times, recovery of raw materials and reduced tooling adjustments in terms of heating. Recovery of composite constituent parts can provide economic benefits because those constituent parts have high embedded energy. In the context of this dilemma of recyclability of wind turbine blades, this review paper intent to explore the current research and future prospect of recycling wind turbine blade materials.

Hydrogen as a clean and sustainable energy for green future

Yousef, Samy — 2021-06-21T00:00:00Z

Sustainable Technologies for Green Economy, Vol. 1, Issue 1, 2021, p. 8-13.
Samy Yousef
Hydrogen is the most abundant gas in the universe and is classified by the World Energy Organization as the cleanest fuel in the world compared to other energy products. Therefore, the hope hangs upon it in achieving the zero fuel emissions strategy, which adopted by the largest countries in the world. Also, it is believed that by 2050, hydrogen consumption will represent 24 % of the global energy sector, with investments estimated at 2.5 trillion dollars, compared to only 139 billion dollars at present. There are three types of hydrogen (gray, blue and green) classified based on their production methods and carbon content. Gray hydrogen is usually produced by burning natural gas at high temperatures and once the carbon is removed or captured, the gray hydrogen turns into blue hydrogen. As for green hydrogen with zero emissions, it is produced through the electrolysis of water or by using renewable energy sources such as solar cell, wind energy, etc. to avoid any emissions during the production stages. Despite the efficiency of green hydrogen compared to other types, its price remains a major obstacle in the promotion and marketing, which is estimated at 3.5 Euro/kg, compared to 1.5 Euro/kg for blue hydrogen. In addition to some other obstacles related to infrastructure and raw materials used in the production stages. Recently, and in order to remove all these obstacles, the leading countries in the energy sector pumped more investments to study all these obstacles and assess the current hydrogen market, which in turn leads to the acceleration of the upscaling of hydrogen production. In this context, this research was developed to study all these current and future challenges. In addition to discussing the traditional and modern methods of its production. Besides taking a look at the projects under implementation in this regard.

Green and sustainable membrane fabrication development

Mohamed, Alaa — 2021-06-29T00:00:00Z

Sustainable Technologies for Green Economy, Vol. 1, Issue 1, 2021, p. 14-23.
Alaa Mohamed, Samy Yousef
To meet the present demands of environmental protection, resource efficiency, and specific separation under severe conditions, continued research and enhancement of membrane technology is necessary. One of the major innovations for improving the sustainability of separation processes has been the use of green solvents for membrane preparation. In this regard, environmentally friendly methods and preparation techniques for high-performance membranes have recently been developed. This article gives an overview of current advancements in polymeric membrane manufacturing processes in terms of environmental preservation and health safety.

Influence of the motor transport emissions on the atmospheric air quality in the city of Almaty and ways of the problem’ solution

Jailaybekov, Yerkin A. — 2022-12-10T00:00:00Z

Sustainable Technologies for Green Economy, Vol. 2, Issue 1, 2022, p. 24-32.
Yerkin A. Jailaybekov, Galym D. Berkinbayev, Natalia A. Yakovleva, Seilkhan A. Askarov
Almaty is the largest city in the Republic of Kazakhstan, population is almost 2,0 million persons. The atmospheric air pollution is the most important environmental problem in this city. The main sources of the atmospheric air pollution are: emissions of the motor transport, emissions of the heating power plants (HPP), which use the solid fuel, emissions of the other industrial enterprises as well as emissions of the heating devices used in the private sector. According to the design data, motor transport makes the main input into the formation of total amount of the emissions. At the same time, some experts and public representatives periodically doubt the priority significance of the motor transport emissions for formation of level of the atmospheric air pollution at the residential areas. Analysis of possible interconnection between the changes in the transport flow on Almaty roads and level of the atmospheric air pollution at the residential areas in the area of influence is conducted based on the data provided by the posts of the automatic continuous observations, which belong to LLP “ECOSERVICE-C”. Winter period of the year 2022 was selected for evaluation of level of the pollutants’ content in the atmospheric air. During this period heating power plants HPP-1 and HPP-2, as well as heating devices of the private sector were operated day-and-night under maximum load. It was found out that level of content of fine-dispersed particles РМ10 and РМ2,5, as well as NO2 and СО increases in the atmospheric air, when the intensity of the motor transport movement grows. The results of monitoring during the period of January 5th – 9th, 2022, when the transport movement was limited due to introduction of the curfew regime, is the sound argument, which gives the evidence on the motor transport role in the atmospheric air pollution. According to the expert evaluations, during this period only about 20-30 % of the available motor transport were operated. At the same time, heating power plants HPP-1, HPP-2 and HPP-3, boiler houses, heating devices of the private sector worked at full capacity. During this period, based on the data provided by the air monitoring stations, which belong to LLP “ECOSERVICE-C”, the abrupt reduction of all pollutants, measured in the air, was observed. The environmental assessment of effectiveness of the measures directed on reduction of the pollutants’ emissions in Almaty, was conducted. Withdrawal of the diesel motor transport from the city allows reduction of the emissions. Practically complete elimination of emissions of solid particles РМ10 and РМ2,5 is the main effect of the diesel motor cars’ prohibition. Use of the electric motor transport and compressed natural gas (CNG) will give the significant influence on the emissions’ reduction. Such measures are the most perspective as regards the motor transport. Limitation by days of access for the motor transport with even and odd numbers will give the largest qualitative effect in reduction of the pollutants emitted by the motor transport (by 55,5 %). Prohibition to manufacture the passenger cars with ecological class up to Euro 4 and their replacement by ecological classes Euro 5-6 will result in the emissions’ reduction by 40,9 %.