Publikační činnost Centra energetických a environmentálních technologií / Publications of Centre of Energy and Environmental Technologies (9390)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/10084/158299

Kolekce obsahuje bibliografické záznamy publikační činnosti (článků) akademických pracovníků Centra energetických a environmentálních technologií (9390) v časopisech registrovaných ve Web of Science od roku 2025 po současnost.
Do kolekce jsou zařazeny:

publikace, u nichž je v originálních dokumentech jako působiště autora (adresa) uvedena Vysoká škola báňská-Technická univerzita Ostrava (VŠB-TUO),
publikace, u nichž v originálních dokumentech není v adrese VŠB-TUO uvedena, ale autoři prokazatelně v době jejich zpracování a uveřejnění působili na VŠB-TUO.

Bibliografické záznamy byly původně vytvořeny v kolekci Publikační činnost akademických pracovníků VŠB-TUO, která sleduje publikování akademických pracovníků od roku 1990.

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Now showing 1 - 15 out of 15 results

Enhancing maize yield and quality with metal-based nanoparticles without translocation risks: A brief field study
(MDPI, 2024) Ernst, Dávid; Kolenčík, Marek; Šebesta, Martin; Žitniak Čurná, Veronika; Qian, Yu; Straka, Viktor; Ducsay, Ladislav; Kratošová, Gabriela; Ďurišová, Ľuba; Gažo, Ján; Baláži, Juraj
Our previous studies have shown physiological and yield intensification of selected crops with the application of nanoparticles (NPs). However, the impact on the quantitative, qualitative, and yield parameters of maize (Zea mays L.) in field conditions remains highly debated. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of zinc oxide (ZnO-NPs), gold NPs anchored to meso-biosilica (Au-NP-bioSi), and titanium dioxide (TiO2-NPs) as biological stimulants under field conditions during the vegetation season of 2021 in the Central European region. The study assessed the effects on the number of plants, yield, yield components, and nutritional quality, including mineral nutrients, starch, and crude protein levels. The potential translocation of these chemically-physically stable NPs, which could pose a hazard, was also investigated. The results indicate that Au-NP-bioSi and ZnO-NPs-treatments were the most beneficial for yield and yield components at a statistically significant level. Mineral nutrient outcomes were varied, with the NP-free variant performing the best for phosphorus-levels, while Au-NP-bioSi and ZnO-NPs were optimal for crude protein. Starch content was comparable across the TiO2-NPs, Au-NP-bioSi, and control variants. Importantly, we observed no hazardous translocation of NPs or negative impacts on maize grain quality. This supports the hypothesis that NPs can serve as an effective tool for precise and sustainable agriculture.
Brønsted acid-facilitated thioetherification cross-coupling reactions with nickel and visible light
(American Chemical Society, 2025) Nikitin, Maksim; Ötvös, Sándor B.; Ghosh, Indrajit; Philipp, Maximilian; Gschwind, Ruth; Kappe, C. Oliver; König, Burkhard
Transition metal-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions are essential in modern organic synthesis, facilitating the rapid creation of complex molecular structures. Traditionally, these reactions rely heavily on conventional bases, with only a few exceptions reported. Recently, we developed adaptive dynamic homogeneous catalysis (AD-HoC), a method that enables C(sp2)–S cross-couplings without needing traditional ligands, bases, or additives. Given the growing demand for protocols compatible with acidic conditions in metal-catalyzed cross-couplings, we revisited AD-HoC to pioneer acid-facilitated transition metal-catalyzed thioetherification. Our method enables the swift synthesis of thioethers using nickel and visible light, with a substoichiometric amount of Brønsted acid acting as an enabler. NMR kinetic studies indicate that in the absence of acid, the system displays an induction period characteristic of autocatalysis. Introducing the acid as a simple additive eliminates this induction period and significantly accelerates the reaction. Moreover, the protocol has been successfully scaled to gram-level synthesis using continuous flow technology, achieving productivities of over 100 g per hour in a commercially available lab-scale photoreactor. This highlights the method’s robustness and scalability, making it a powerful tool for large-scale applications.
Harnessing photocatalytic activity of mesoporous graphitic carbon nitride decorated by copper single-atom catalysts for oxidative dehydrogenation of N-heterocycles
(Elsevier, 2024) Gaikwad, Rahul P.; Warkad, Indrajeet R.; Chaudhari, Dinesh S.; Jiang, Shan; Miller, Jeffrey T.; Pham, Hien N.; Datye, Abhaya; Gawande, Manoj B.
This work describes the application of Cu single-atom catalysts (SACs) for photocatalytic oxidative dehydrogenation of N-heterocyclic amines to the respective N -heteroaromatics through environmentally benign and sustainable pathways. The mesoporous graphitic carbon nitride (mpg-C3N4), prepared by the one-step pyrolysis method, possesses a lightweight material with a high surface area (95 m(2) g(-1)) and an average pore diameter (3.6 nm). A simple microwave-assisted preparation method was employed to decorate Cu single-atom over mpg-C3N4 support. The Cu single-atom decorated on mpg-C3N4 support (Cu@mpg-C3N4) is characterized by various characterization techniques, including XRD, UV-visible spectrophotometry, HRTEM, HAADF-STEM with elemental mapping, AC-STEM, ICP-OES, XANES, EXAFS, and BET surface area. These characterization studies confirmed that the Cu@mpg-C3N4 catalyst exhibited high surface area, mesoporous nature, medium band gap, and low metal loading. The as-synthesized and well-characterized Cu@mpg-C3N4 single-atom photocatalyst is then evaluated for its efficacy in converting N-heterocycles into corresponding N-heteroaromatic compounds with excellent conversion and selectivity (>99 %). This transformation is achieved using water as a green solvent and a 30 W white light as a visible light source, demonstrating the catalyst's potential for sustainable and environmentally benign reactions.
Proof of inherent intelligence consensus mechanism empowering blockchain-enabled transactive energy
(IEEE, 2025) Hussain, Imran; Hussain, Hafiz Ashiq; Ullah, Nasim; Mišák, Stanislav
An evolving energy system with a dispersed infrastructure may not be compatible with traditional centralized optimization and management techniques. Blockchain, a peer-to-peer immutable distributed ledger technology, has the potential to significantly contribute to the management of emerging trends of decentralized power networks. However, complex optimization problems associated with the decentralized power grid are poorly integrated into the existing blockchain applications. Here, we suggest Proof of Inherent Intelligence (PoII), a novel prosumer-centric consensus mechanism designed to assist multi-interest party optimization challenges of the distributed power grid. We demonstrate PoII’s operation and performance with comprehensive mathematical modeling of energy pool-market trading and scheduling optimization problems. The efficiency of the proposed framework is evaluated against the existing blockchain applications for peer-to-peer energy transactions in terms of latency, throughput, tolerance against adversaries, vulnerability, and optimization capabilities. A thorough case study of the power grid that includes thermal, wind, and intermittent generation sources is presented to assess the effectiveness of the proposed consensus mechanism. Power demand, reserves, trading, and scheduling scenarios in both the day-ahead and balancing markets are among the peer-to-peer energy transactional elements that are assessed to support the efficacy of the suggested consensus approach
Investigation of thermal comfort under face masks wearing conditions in the smart building
(Frontiers Media Sa , 2025) Orman, Lukasz J.; Debska, Luiza; Honus, Stanislav; Radek, Norbert; Adamczak, Stanislaw; Siwczuk, Natalia
The paper analyses thermal comfort of people wearing face masks. The study took place in the selected classrooms of the smart building "Energis" located in Poland. In the experiments 100 respondents participated. They filled in the questionnaire forms, in which they expressed their subjective assessment of the indoor thermal environment. Simultaneously, measurements of the physical parameters within the rooms were performed with a microclimate meter. The results clearly show that the use of face masks influenced thermal sensations of the people - they felt warmer than without the face mask on (at the same air temperature). Moreover, the respondents who wore the masks indicated that the air was more humid in relation to the case when the masks are not applied. The comparison of the obtained actual thermal sensations of the respondents with the calculation results according to the thermal comfort model proved that the model was unable to properly predict thermal sensations of people wearing face masks.
Impact of Polyethylene Terephthalate Microplastics on Aerobic Granular Sludge Structure and EPS Composition in Wastewater Treatment
(MDPI, 2025) Jachimowicz, Piotr; Cydzik-Kwiatkowska, Agnieszka
Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) is a promising technology for wastewater treatment. Granules have a compact microbial structure and a high potential for pollutant removal. Despite its advantages, the impact of microplastics (MPs) on AGS remains poorly understood, posing a potential risk to the stability and efficiency of biological wastewater treatment processes. This study investigates the effects of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) MPs on AGS structure and extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) composition, providing new insights into the interaction between MPs and AGS. Four granular sequencing batch reactors (GSBRs) were operated with varying concentrations of PET MPs in the influent wastewater (0, 1, 10, 50 mg/L). Key findings include MP-induced changes in granule size distribution, with an increase in smaller granules (<90 mu m) observed in reactors exposed to PET MPs. EPS concentrations (51-77 mg/L) exhibited significant differences among reactors, with notable shifts in protein (PN) and polysaccharide (PS) fractions. A higher PET MP dose resulted in an increased PN/PS ratio (from 1.96 to 5.40) and elevated hydrophobicity of AGS. These changes suggest that MPs can alter AGS structure and EPS composition, potentially affecting granule stability and treatment performance. This study provides novel evidence on the disruptive effects of MPs in wastewater treatment systems, emphasizing the need to address MP pollution in the context of biological treatment processes. The results contribute to a deeper understanding of the interactions between MP and AGS and form the basis for strategies to mitigate their adverse effects.
Three-stage pyrolysis-catalytic dry reforming of waste polyolefins over MFI and Ni-MFI catalysts for BTEX and syngas production
(Elsevier, 2024) Inayat, Amer; Inayat, Alexandra; Klemencová, Kateřina; Schwieger, Wilhelm; Leštinský, Pavel
This work presents an experimental proof-of-concept study for a three-stage pyrolysis-catalytic dry reforming process for recovering valuable chemicals from waste plastics. It is demonstrated that depending upon the catalysts, process parameters and reactor configuration, plastic waste and carbon dioxide can be converted into a diverse array of valuable chemicals which can be used as secondary feedstocks in the chemical or petrochemical industry, thus decreasing dependency on fossil resources and contributing to waste reduction. For this work, waste polypropylene was thermally pyrolyzed and the emerging vapors were passed over HZSM-5 catalyst to obtain BTEX-rich pyrolysis oil and pyrolysis gases containing mainly C1 to C4 hydrocarbons. The gaseous products were separated, mixed with CO2 and passed over Ni-silicalite-1 catalyst to obtain syngas, thus upgrading the pyrolysis gases and contributing to CO2 reduction. This study may provide new insights towards the development of processes for the chemical recycling of waste plastics and CO2.
The effect of wood species on fine particle and gaseous emissions from a modern wood stove
(MDPI, 2024) Rinta-Kiikka, Henna; Dahal, Karna; Louhisalmi, Juho; Koponen, Hanna; Sippula, Olli; Krpec, Kamil; Tissari, Jarkko
Residential wood combustion (RWC) is a significant source of gaseous and particulate emissions causing adverse health and environmental effects. Several factors affect emissions, but the effects of the fuel wood species on emissions are currently not well understood. In this study, the Nordic wood species (named BirchA, BirchB, Spruce, SpruceDry, Pine and Alder) were combusted in a modern stove, and the emissions were studied. The lowest emissions were obtained from the combustion of BirchA and the highest from Spruce and Alder. The fine particle mass (PM2.5) was mainly composed of elemental carbon (50-70% of PM2.5), which is typical in modern appliances. The lowest PAH concentrations were measured from BirchA (total PAH 107 mu g/m3) and Pine (250 mu g/m3). In the ignition batch, the PAH concentration was about 4-fold (416 mu g/m3). The PAHs did not correlate with other organic compounds, and thus, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or organic carbon (OC) concentrations cannot be used as an indicator of PAH emissions. Two birch species from different origins with a similar chemical composition but different density produced partially different emission profiles. This study indicates that emission differences may be due more to the physical properties of the wood and the combustion conditions than to the wood species themselves.
Mechanical properties, workability, and experiments of reinforced composite beams with alternative binder and aggregate
(MDPI, 2024) Marcalíková, Zuzana; Jeřábek, Jan; Gandel, Radoslav; Gabor, Roman; Bílek, Vlastimil; Sucharda, Oldřich
Arguably the most important element in the sustainability of concrete development is the discovery of an optimal sustainable binder and substitution for the increasingly depleted reserves of natural aggregates. Considerable interest has been shown in alkali-activated materials, which possess good characteristics and could be considered environmentally friendly because of their use of secondary materials in production. The aim of this study was the determination of the mechanical properties of three different mixtures based on the same locally accessible raw materials. The reference mixture contained Portland cement, the second mix contained a finely ground granulated blast furnace slag instead of cement, and the third mixture contained a portion of light artificial aggregate. The experiments focused on the testing and mutual comparison of the processability of the fresh mixture and mechanical characteristics (like compressive and flexural strength, as well as resistance to high temperatures and surface layer tear strength tests). Reinforced concrete beams without shear reinforcement and with three levels of reinforcement were also tested with a three-point bend test. The results show that, overall, the mechanical properties of all the tested mixtures were similar, but each had its own disadvantages. For example, the blast furnace slag-based mixture had a more vulnerable surface layer or a debatable loss of bulk density in the light aggregate mix at the expense of the mechanical properties. One of the main results of the research is that it was possible to technologically produce beams from the alkali-activated concrete (AAC) mixture. Then, the performed beam experiments verified the mechanism of damage, collapse, and load capacity. The obtained results are essential because they present the use of AAC not only in laboratory conditions but also for building elements. In beams without shear reinforcement, the typical tensile cracks caused by bending and shear cracks appeared under loading, where their character was affected depending on the degree of beam reinforcement and loading.
Advances of MXene heterostructure composites in the area of sensing and biomedical applications: An overview
(Elsevier, 2024) Ponnada, Srikanth; Kiai, Maryam Sadat; Yadav, Sarita; Palariya, Anjali; Vusa, Chiranjeevi Sreenivasa Rao; Bose, Rapaka Chandra; Nehra, Anita; Datta, Saikat; Pawar, Ravinder; Simha Martynková, Gražyna; Gadkari, Siddharth; Naskar, Susmita; Sharma, Rakesh K.
Among various two-dimensional materials, MXenes have emerged as versatile materials that incorporate transition metal carbide, nitride, and carbonitrides. MXenes are gaining paramount attraction among the scientific community in areas of catalyst, energy, electromagnetic shielding, and sensors due to their outstanding mechanical, electrical, sensing, optical, and tunable characteristics. The unique properties such as surface chemistry, graphene-like morphology, metal-like conductivity, and high hydrophilicity ameliorate MXene as an ideal 2D material for surface-related applications. This review focuses on the most recent reports on the surface modifications/surface chemistry and electrochemical sensing of different analytes using MXenes for biomedical applications, biomolecule detection, and environmental monitoring. The present review concisely summarizes different characterization techniques, such as X-ray diffraction methods and electron microscopy, for evaluating MXene characteristics. Apart from titanium carbide MXene, other MXene needs a careful investigation to accentuate the future perspectives of MXenes in sensor devices. This comprehensive review paper aims to inspire the scientific community that is intrigued by the potential properties, benefits, prospects, and difficulties of utilizing 2D materials in various biosensing and biomedical applications.
The innovative design of carbon dots on polymer texture for highly selective detection of amino compounds
(Elsevier, 2024) Maruthapandi, Moorthy; Durairaj, Arulappan; Saravanan, Arumugam; Luong, John H. T.; Bakandritsos, Aristides; Gedanken, Aharon; Zbořil, Radek
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are of growing concern due to their toxicity and environmental impact. Their facile detection is thus of a high importance but still challenging because they are unreactive and often present at very low concentrations. Developing sensing schemes for VOCs based on low-cost, sensitive, selective, and user-friendly methods is therefore crucial for environmental monitoring. To address these issues, we herein developed polymer supported carbon dots (CDs) by reacting tetraminobenzene with 2,4,6-trichlorophenyl oxalate using a simple reflux method. Owing to the selection of precursors, polymer supported fluorescent carbon dots (P-CDs) were grown decorating the synthesized polymeric spheres. The P-CDs composites were highly stable, and their fluorescence was drastically quenched by several VOC analytes (ethanolamine, diethanolamine, triethanolamine, and ammonia) due to the rich surface functional groups that could effectively and selectively interact with amines. The polymer component contributed to ascribing excellent photophysical and chemical stability, which is valuable particularly for sensing in complex matrices. As a result, the developed P-CDs exhibited superior properties when applied as VOC sensors, including high selectivity for several amines but not for other organic species, fast response, and very high stability, while offering a simple detection method, and minimum sample pre-treatment. The PCD design has extended potential for diverse sensing applications, including, for instance, control of prohibited transport of chemicals and post-toxic analysis.
A comparison between the quality of two level and three levels bidirectional buck-boost converter using the neural network controller
(IEEE, 2024) Gaied, Hajer; Flah, Aymen; Kraiem, Habib; Prokop, Lukáš
A comparison between two-phase and three-phase interlaced DC converter with parallel MOSFET is presented. PWM is evaluated using a two-way DC-DC converter to charge and discharge a battery. The results show an excellent DC voltage gain without an extremely high cycle load. The interlaced DC-DC converters with MOSFETs in parallel in two and three phases offer distinct advantages and limitations. The two-phase converter has a simpler design and a potentially lower cost due to the reduced number of components. However, it can present challenges in terms of precise voltage regulation and current balancing, due to the limited number of switching phases. On the other hand, the three-phase converter offers more precise voltage regulation and improved current balance thanks to its higher number of phases. While this results in increased design complexity and potentially higher cost, it allows for a more uniform distribution of current load among MOSFETs. The choice between the two will depend on the specific requirements of the application, acceptable trade-offs in terms of complexity, cost and performance, as well as the need for accurate voltage regulation and optimal current balancing.
Advancing short-term solar irradiance forecasting accuracy through a hybrid deep learning approach with Bayesian optimization
(Elsevier, 2024) Molu, Reagan Jean Jacques; Tripathi, Bhaskar; Mbasso, Wulfran Fendzi; Naoussi, Serge Raoul Dzonde; Bajaj, Mohit; Wira, Patrice; Blažek, Vojtěch; Prokop, Lukáš; Mišák, Stanislav
The optimization of solar energy integration into the power grid relies heavily on accurate forecasting of solar irradiance. In this study, a new approach for short-term solar irradiance forecasting is introduced. This method combines Bayesian Optimized Attention-Dilated Long Short-Term Memory and Savitzky-Golay filtering. The methodology is implemented to analyze data obtained from a solar irradiance probe situated in Douala, Cameroon. Initially, the unprocessed data is augmented by integrating distinctive solar irradiation variables, and the Savitzky-Golay filter with Bayesian Optimization is used to enhance its quality. Subsequently, multiple deep learning models, including Long Short-Term Memory, Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory, Artificial Neural Networks, Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory with Additive Attention Mechanism, and Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory with Additive Attention Mechanism and Dilated Convolutional layers, are trained and evaluated. Out of all the models considered, the proposed approach, which combines the attention mechanism and dilated convolutional layers, demonstrates exceptional performance with the best convergence and accuracy in forecasting. Bayesian Optimization is further utilized to fine -tune the polynomial and window size of the Savitzky-Golay filter and optimize the hyperparameters of the deep learning models. The results show a Symmetric Mean Absolute Percentage Error of 0.6564, a Normalized Root Mean Square Error of 0.2250, and a Root Mean Square Error of 22.9445, surpassing previous studies in the literature. Empirical findings highlight the effectiveness of the proposed methodology in enhancing the accuracy of short-term solar irradiance forecasting. This research contributes to the field by introducing novel data pre-processing techniques, a hybrid deep learning architecture, and the development of a benchmark dataset. These advancements benefit both researchers and solar plant managers, improving solar irradiance forecasting capabilities.
Single atom catalysts based on earth-abundant metals for energy-related applications
(American Chemical Society, 2024) Kment, Štěpán; Bakandritsos, Aristides; Tantis, Iosif; Kmentová, Hana; Zuo, Yunpeng; Henrotte, Olivier; Naldoni, Alberto; Otyepka, Michal; Varma, Rajender S.; Zbořil, Radek
Anthropogenic activities related to population growth, economic development, technological advances, and changes in lifestyle and climate patterns result in a continuous increase in energy consumption. At the same time, the rare metal elements frequently deployed as catalysts in energy related processes are not only costly in view of their low natural abundance, but their availability is often further limited due to geopolitical reasons. Thus, electrochemical energy storage and conversion with earth-abundant metals, mainly in the form of single-atom catalysts (SACs), are highly relevant and timely technologies. In this review the application of earth-abundant SACs in electrochemical energy storage and electrocatalytic conversion of chemicals to fuels or products with high energy content is discussed. The oxygen reduction reaction is also appraised, which is primarily harnessed in fuel cell technologies and metal-air batteries. The coordination, active sites, and mechanistic aspects of transition metal SACs are analyzed for two-electron and four-electron reaction pathways. Further, the electrochemical water splitting with SACs toward green hydrogen fuel is discussed in terms of not only hydrogen evolution reaction but also oxygen evolution reaction. Similarly, the production of ammonia as a clean fuel via electrocatalytic nitrogen reduction reaction is portrayed, highlighting the potential of earth-abundant single metal species.
Reformer + Membrane separator plant for decarbonized hydrogen production from Biogas/Biomethane: An experimental study combined to energy efficiency and exergy analyses
(Elsevier, 2024) Ruales, Henry Bryan Trujillo; Spadafora, Alex; Fiore, Piergiuseppe; Vereš, Ján; Caravella, Alessio; Iulianelli, Adolfo
Nowadays, the world energy production is still based on the exploitation of fossil fuels, mainly oil, coal, and natural gas, responsible for large greenhouse emissions in the environment. According to the measures proposed by the European Green Deal to meet the carbon neutrality by 2050, the decarbonisation of the global energy production processes represents a top priority. Hydrogen represents a carbon-free energy carrier, useful to drive the society toward a decarbonized-economy. The novelty of this work is represented by the experimental generation of clean hydrogen by a two stages plant constituted of a biogas/biomethane steam reformer and a Pd-Ag membrane separator, meanwhile applying on this simple case the methodology of the exergy analysis, identifying the main losses and suggesting improvements. Hence, it deals with the exergy analysis of the whole system with the process intensification operated by the membrane separator adopted instead of using several stages to separate/purify hydrogen - as conventionally done after the reforming stage (two water gas shift reactors, high and low temperature, followed by a pressure swing adsorption stage) - with the objective of recovering decarbonized hydrogen coming from the biogas/biomethane steam reformer, meeting the European targets indicated by the Clean Hydrogen Alliance. This approach allowed to understand the amount of irreversibilities present in such a system as well as how the thermal efficiency may be influenced by a number of parameters, constituting globally a baseline for the scaling up of this process technology from lab to bench/pilot scale. The best results of this work highlight that the utilization of biomethane in the feed stream to generate hydrogen resulted to be a better choice than biogas in terms of thermal efficiency (based on the lower heating value) of the whole system, equal to 73 % at 773 K, while the highest percentage of exergy destruction was concentrated in the condensation stage, with values varying between 76 % and 93 %, depending on the feed stream typology. The two stages system was able to meet the "decarbonized hydrogen production target 2027", with a hydrogen recovery of 90 % and a purity of 99.9999 %. Last but not least, the overall exergy destroyed efficiency of the overall system in the two analyzed cases was 92 % (biomethane feed stream) and 88 % (biogas feed stream), respectively.

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