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In this study, a coupled coal and power management model is developed based on an inexact fuzzy-queue programming method. The model is applied to a case study of coupled coal and power management system. The results indicate that the developed model can afford reasonable measures for solving coal-blending and coal-resources-allocation problems in coupled coal and power management system. It is useful for (a) standardizing coal supply, (b) improving efficiencies of the boilers, and (c) reducing emissions of air pollutants for meeting local air-quality targets. Potential risks associated with coal shortages and instability due to property variations from multiple sources can also be highly lowered through diversifying coal sources. Moreover, it can handle queue problems and multiple uncertainties exist in coupled coal and power management activities. Thus, it can help decision makers obtain optimal coal-blending schemes and coal-allocation patterns.

A mesostructured zirconium oxide was synthesized hydrothermally using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as the structure-directing agent and ZrSO4. 4H2O as the reactant. Subsequent post-synthetic treatment with H3PO4followed by the treatment with AlCl3solutions resulted in mesoporous Zr-P-Al materials, which exhibited high BET specific surface area before calcination. The phosphoric acid concentrationaffected the textual data of the resulting Zr-P and Zr-P-Al materials greatly. 0.1-0.5 M H3PO4increased obviously the long-range order of the as-synthesized Zr-P materials while 0.76 M H3PO4decreased it. After calcination at 773 K, the Zr-P materials turned to nonporous materials except the one synthesized by 0.5 M H3PO4, which showed micropores with a BET specific surface area of 147 m2/g. Further treating the Zr-P materials (synthesized from different concentration of phosphoric acid) with the same amount of AlCl3solution resulted in mesoporous Zr-P-Al materials, but the long-range order of which decreased when the H3PO4concentration increased. Similarly, the BET specific surface area of the above-mentioned Zr-P-Al materials decreased from 462 m2/g for 0.25 M H3PO4to 394 m2/g for 0.5 M H3PO4and finally to 332 m2/g for 0.76 M H3PO4after calcination at 773 K, while the pore size increased gradually from 3.0 to 3.5 nm. It was found that about 90% of the CTAB had been removed during the AlCl3treatment and that the as-synthesized Zr-P-Al materials exhibited high BET specific surface area as well as mesopores. The AlCl3amount is another factor affecting the textual data of the uncalcined Zr-P-Al materials besides the H3PO4concentration. With the phosphoric acid concentration of 0.25 M, the BET specific surface area of the as-synthesized Zr-P-Al materials increased from 477 m2/g to as high as 734 m2/g with the increasing AlCl3amount before it decreased from then on.