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This research was conducted to feasibility study and simulation of utilization of renewable energies (solar and biomass) in broiler industry in Khorramabad County. Data was collected by field sampling (for a breeding period in winter 2015-2016) and from organizations. In the simulation of a grid-connected photovoltaic system (20 kW) with PVsyst 6.7 software, the average performance ratio and available useful energy of the system were calculated at 0.785 and 4.75 kWh/kWp/day, respectively. The use of photovoltaic system can cover 25% of electrical energy in broiler production farms in winter season. Also, in feasibility study of combined heat and power system, the potential of biogas production from broiler manure was calculated at 448.5 m³ per 1000 pieces of broiler. The use of biogas plant can supply 98% of the electrical energy of broiler production farms in winter season. According to the results, the use of renewable energies in the present conditions, despite the reduction of fossil fuels consumption and many environmental benefits, in the broiler industry is not economical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Petroleum contains carcinogens and toxic substances that can have an unfavorable impact on environmental quality and human health when the soil becomes contaminated with crude oil. BBiostimulation and bioaugmentation are the main strategies in the bioremediation of oilcontaminated soils. To decompose old-aged petroleum pollution in saline soil, a full factorial experiment was utilized. The experiment was designed using a completely randomized design with four factors: bacterial inoculum, sugarcane bagasse, chemical fertilizer, and molasses. The application of these factors was conducted in four separate experiments: pretreatment of agricultural soil and spent mushroom compost, pretreatment of spent mushroom compost, pretreatment of agricultural soil, and no pretreatment. After a 60-day incubation period at 28 °C, the results showed that the organic wastes of molasses and spent mushroom compost in combination with bacterial inoculum reduced total petroleum hydrocarbons 38 and 33.3%, respectively. Molasses had a considerable impact on increasing the efficiency of bacterial inoculum 1 and bacterial inoculum 3. Similarly, spent mushroom compost was found to significantly affect bacterial inoculum 1. In addition, bagasse was observed to accelerate the bioremediation process by improving the physical conditions of the soil. In the pretreatment of agricultural soil, bagasse in combination with bacterial inoculum 1 and chemical fertilizer reduced the total petroleum hydrocarbons significantly (38%) compared to the control treatment. These results highlight the effectiveness of organic wastes as biostimulation agents in promoting the growth and reproduction of the soil microbial community, as well as establishing the bacterial inoculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The usage of phase change materials (PCMs) in thermal energy storage (TES) systems has been a promising approach in recent years. An accurate estimation of their thermophysical properties is a key factor in their optimal and efficient performance in TES systems. In this study, aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and copper (Cu) nanoparticles were incorporated in paraffin wax as a PCM to enhance its thermophysical properties. The effects of the nanoparticle type, mass fraction, and its size on the specific heat, density, thermal conductivity, and TES density of the nanocomposites, were investigated. A field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) was used to study their morphology. The experiments were based on three factors, nanoparticle type (Al2O3 and Cu), nanoparticle mass fraction (1%, 3%, and 6%), and nanoparticle size (30, 70, and 110 nm), while pure paraffin wax was applied as the control sample. The addition of nanoparticles to paraffin has been proven to be a promising technique. The results showed that the specific heat changes of the NePCMs have not been influenced by the factors under consideration. Also, higher mass fractions and smaller sizes of nanoparticles resulted in higher densities in NePCMs. Moreover, the thermal energy storage density of NePCMs increased at higher loading and smaller size of the nanoparticles. The improvement in thermal conductivity is especially significant if the smallest nanoparticle size with mass fractions of 3% and 6% is used. An improvement in thermal conductivity of up to 72% has been achieved at a mass fraction of 6% of 30 nm copper nanoparticles. Finally, the NePCM containing 6% mass fraction and 30 nm size of the nanoparticle (A6S and C6S) were selected as optimal NePCMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: People in the Middle East are facing the problem of freshwater shortages. This problem is more intense for a remote region, which has no access to the power grid. The use of seawater desalination technology integrated with the generated energy unit by renewable energy sources could help overcome this problem. In this study, we refer a seawater reverse osmosis desalination (SWROD) plant with a capacity of 1.5 m3/h used on Larak Island, Iran. Moreover, for producing fresh water and meet the load demand of the SWROD plant, three different stand‐alone hybrid renewable energy systems (SAHRES), namely wind turbine (WT)/photovoltaic (PV)/battery bank storage (BBS), PV/BBS, and WT/BBS are modeled and investigated. The optimization problem was coded in MATLAB software. Furthermore, the optimized results were obtained by the division algorithm (DA). The DA has been developed to solve the sizing problem of three SAHRES configurations by considering the object function's constraints. These results show that this improved algorithm has been simpler, more precise, faster, and more flexible than a genetic algorithm (GA) in solving problems. Moreover, the minimum total life cycle cost (TLCC = 243 763$), with minimum loss of power supply probability (LPSP = 0%) and maximum reliability, was related to the WT/PV/BBS configuration. WT/PV/BBS is also the best configuration to use less battery as a backup unit (69 units). The batteries in this configuration have a longer life cycle (maximum average of annual battery charge level) than two other configurations (93.86%). Moreover, the optimized results have shown that utilizing the configuration of WT/PV/BBS could lead to attaining a cost‐effective and green (without environmental pollution) SAHRES, with high reliability for remote areas, with appropriate potential of wind and solar irradiance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study was to examine the energy flows for poultry breeding in broiler production farms in Alborz province of Iran. Data were obtained randomly from 30 poultry production farms using a face to face questionnaire method. The results indicated that the total input energy was 189805.48 MJ per 1000 birds, while the output energy was 28151.17 MJ/(1000 bird). Net energy was negative, -161654.31 MJ/(1000 bird), implying that energy had been lost. Energy use efficiency was calculated as 0.15, showing the inefficient use of energy in the broiler production farms. The fuel energy (energy content of the fuel) with a share of 58.35% had the highest share of input energy and the feed energy by 29.71% was the next. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission of the studied farms was 10267.96 kg CO2-eq/(1000 bird). Among different inputs, feed with 48% had the highest share of GHG emissions. Cobb-Douglas frontier production function was adopted to specify the production technology of the farms. Econometric model evaluation showed that the effects of diesel fuel and feed on output energy was significant at 1% level. The marginal physical productivity (MPP) values of energy inputs based on sensitivity analysis were 0.04 and 0.51 for diesel fuel and feed, respectively. The variability results between poultry farms showed that the most variability comes from fuel consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, fluidized bed drying experiments were conducted for poplar wood particles (Populus deltoides) at temperatures ranging from 90°C to 120°C and air velocities ranging from 2.8 m s−1to 3.3 m s−1. The initial moisture content (MC) and the bed height of the poplar wood particles were 150% (on an oven-dry basis) and 2 cm, respectively. The results showed that the drying rate increased by increasing the drying temperature and air velocity. The constant drying rate period was only observed at the early stages of the drying process and most of the drying processes were found in the falling rate period. The experimental data of the drying process were put into e11 models. Among these models, Midilli, Kucuk, and Yapar (2002) and Henderson and Pabis (1961) were found to satisfactorily describe the drying characteristics of poplar wood particles. The effective moisture diffusivity of wood particles increased from 7E-6 to 8.46E-6 and 7.65 E-6 to 1.44E-5 m2s−1as the drying air temperature increased from 90°C to 120°C for 2.8 m s−1and 3.3 m s−1of velocities, respectively. Also, the activation energies of diffusion were 34.08 kJ mol−1and 64.70 kJ mol−1for the air velocities of 2.8 m s−1and 3.3 m s−1, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saffron is regarded as an important crop in Iranian agricultural economics that needs to be investigated to produce the environmentally friendlier product. In the present study, saffron production as an important agricultural production system in Iran was evaluated thoroughly from an environmental point of view. Data were collected from saffron farmers in Southern Khorasan province of the country with face-to-face questionnaire method during cropping period of 2013-2014. The system boundary was considered from the production of raw input materials to the harvested saffron. In order to identify the main hotspot during cultivation, impact categories were considered using CML methodology and cumulative exergy demand (CExD) indicator. Based on the results, chemical fertilizers N and P were the main hotspots in abiotic depletion (AD), acidification (AC), global warming (GWP), and photochemical oxidation (PO) impact categories, while diesel fuel was the main hotspot in fresh water aquatic ecotoxicity (FE), marine aquatic ecotoxicity (ME), and terrestrial ecotoxicity (TE). Direct emission from diesel fuel combustion (saffron) was the main hotspot only in human toxicity (HT). The small farms had the highest amounts of AD, AC, EP, GWP, and PO indicators in comparison with the medium and large farms. Total CExD indicator for production of 1 kg saffron was 1894.23 MJ eq. Totally, large farms (bigger than 1 ha) had better environmental performance considering all the impact categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]