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Small and medium breweries discharging to municipal sewers without treatment generate significant loads with typical concentrations reported by Valta et al. (2014) as 2-6 g COD L-1, 25-80 mg TN L-1, 10-50 mg TP L-1, with pH between 4.5 and 12. Treatment of the high-strength wastewater requires specialized low footprint processes, such as aerobic granular sludge (AGS), capable of high-rate degradation, as well as simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorous removal (Wang et al., 2007). The objective of this study was to evaluate the start-up period of AGS receiving brewery wastewater after initial anaerobic pre-treatment.

Thermal energy storage can play an important role to reduce the mismatch between energy demand and supply. This work presents two cascading systems with the aim to increase energy density and storage efficiency. Furthermore, the influence of the system volume on the energy density is depicted compared to only including the volume of the storage material. Both cascading cycles indicate an increase in energy density and storage efficiency on a material level compared to a direct use. When considering also the auxiliary components of the system, the energy density can decrease under the value of the direct use system. Thus, it is very important to gaze at the whole system for the calculation of energy densities.

Closed adsorption storages have been investigated in several projects for heat storage in building applications with focus on energy density and performance. This study complements this research with the assessment of the environmental impacts over the life cycle. Global warming potential (GWP) was chosen as the assessment criterion. Selected sorption materials in combination with water as the refrigerant were analyzed first by themselves and then embedded in a generic storage configuration. Sensible storage in water served as the reference benchmark. Results on material and component level showed that the relative storage capacity compared to water under realistic operating conditions reached values of below 4 and 2.5, respectively, in the best cases. Since the effort for producing the sorbents as well as the auxiliary material demand for assembling storage components was significantly higher than in the reference case, the specific environmental impact per storage capacity also turned out to be ~2.5 to ~100 times higher. We therefore suggest focusing sorption storage research on applications that (a) maximize the utilization of the uptake of sorbents, (b) do not compete with water storages, and (c) require minimal auxiliary parts.

The main objectives of research on innovative materials (phase change materials, PCM, or thermochemical materials, TCM) for thermal storage are the development of low-loss and compact storage systems with high capacity (sensible water storages being the benchmark). If the storage is to be implemented in an application with the aim to increase its energy efficiency, beside the technical/thermal properties and cost factors, also the environmental impact of the storage production and operation need to be considered during development. Yet up to now, a holistic development approach that considers the primary energy used for the manufacturing, operation and disposal in relationship to the potential energy savings does not exist for innovative storage concepts. Therefore, we are presenting data on the environmental impact of PCM and TCM on material and component level developed within the German project ""Speicher LCA"" (engl. ""Storage Life Cycle Assessment""). The evaluation shows that PCM can be environmentally beneficial compared to water, if they are used in an application with a small useful temperature difference (e.g. cooling). Storing solar thermal heat with solid sorption materials in a closed system does not seem environmentally beneficial. Additional scenarios assuming the possible reuse of undegraded material, configurations with open sorption storage and/or other material classes (such as salt hydrates and liquid sorption) will be studied in the future.

An investigation was carried out to determine the extent of relations between various structural properties of zeolite frameworks and their experimental water adsorption capacities. For this aim, average water capacity values were determined for different zeolite frameworks by utilizing water adsorption capacities reported in the literature for related materials. It was observed that the theoretical surface areas and volumes available for water adsorption in zeolites as well as the fractal dimensions of these materials exhibited some correlation with their experimental adsorption capacities. The results might give an indication of the potential for development of different zeolite frameworks, regarding their water adsorption capacities. Analogue materials of known zeolite framework structures, with different chemical compositions, which may allow for relatively high water adsorption capacities, may be prepared for such an improvement. The investigations may also be informative for the development of new zeolite-like adsorbents with relatively high capacities.

Zeolite A coatings of various thicknesses were directly crystallized on stainless steel plates by using the substrate heating method. The coatings prepared were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), laser microscopy and thermogravimetry (TG). Kinetic measurements were performed to determine the rates of adsorption of these materials, which exhibited rough corrugated surfaces with accessible nature. It was observed that the overall adsorption kinetics slowed down to some extent with the increasing thickness of the coatings. Regarding the power estimated for their use in adsorption heat pumps, the higher mass of the thicker samples could compensate for this limiting effect up to some point. An optimum zeolite A coating thickness, maximizing the power, was determined to exist between 58 mm and 176 mm, representing the thinnest and thickest coatings investigated in this study. For the operating conditions used, the optimum thickness value was around 130-140 mm, which varied to some extent with the amount of normalized loading.

International audience; The last decade was characterized by an important increase in the request concerning miniature products. Nowadays, the miniaturization of the products represents major strategic and economic stakes. Economic surveys expect an important increase in the needs for MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) and MOEMS (Micro Opto Electro Mechanical Systems) in various fields. Components used in MEMS are different from those used in microelectronics technology. Micromanipulation of flat SMD (Surface Mounted Devices) electronic components has been successfully done using vacuum handling systems. However, components used in MEMS have electrical, mechanical, optical or fluidic functions. These components have complex 3D shapes. This is why new micromanipulation technologies must be developed taking into account the specificities of these new components. One of the most important functions is the gripping of microcomponents. In order to fulfil the demands concerning microhandling, various laboratories have developed prototypes of microgrippers. Most of them are able to handle micro-objects in a narrow range of sizes. Moreover, these grippers are rarely equipped with precise sensors for force measurement. However, measuring the force applied by the gripper on the manipulated object is very important in order to avoid damaging or destroying the object. In this paper we present the design and the control of a microgripper dedicated to very high precision tasks. This microgripper is able to handle small components in a wide range of sizes (from 100 µm to several mm). The object handled can be moved laterally on several cm with force control.