Exploiting solar energy technology for both heating and cooling purposes has the potential of meeting an appreciable portion of the energy demand in buildings throughout the year. By developing an integrated, multi-purpose solar energy system, that can operate all twelve months of the year, a high utilisation factor can be achieved which translates to more economical systems. However, there are still some techno-economic barriers to the general commercialisation and market penetration of such technologies. These are associated with high system and installation costs, significant system complexity, and lack of knowledge of system implementation and expected performance. A sorption heat pump module that can be integrated directly into a solar thermal collector has thus been developed in order to tackle the aforementioned market barriers. This has been designed for the development of cost-effective pre-engineered solar energy system kits that can provide both heating and cooling. This thesis summarises the characterisation studies of the operation of individual sorption modules, sorption module integrated solar collectors and a full solar heating and cooling system employing sorption module integrated collectors. Key performance indicators for the individual sorption modules showed cooling delivery for 6 hours at an average power of 40 W and a temperature lift of 21°C. Upon integration of the sorption modules into a solar collector, measured solar radiation energy to cooling energy conversion efficiencies (solar cooling COP) were between 0.10 and 0.25 with average cooling powers between 90 and 200 W/m2 collector aperture area. Further investigations of the sorption module integrated collectors implementation in a full solar heating and cooling system yielded electrical cooling COP ranging from 1.7 to 12.6 with an average of 10.6 for the test period. Additionally, simulations were performed to determine system energy and cost saving potential for various system sizes over a full year of operation for a 140 m2 single-family dwelling located in Madrid, Spain. Simulations yielded an annual solar fraction of 42% and potential cost savings of €386 per annum for a solar heating and cooling installation employing 20m2 of sorption integrated collectors.

Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) represent an emerging new class of functional crystalline solid-state materials. In the early discovery of this now rapidly growing class of materials significant challenges were often encountered. However, MOFs today, with its vast structural modularity, reflected by the huge library of the available chemical building blocks, and exceptional controlled porosity, stand as the most promising candidate to address many of the overbearing societal challenges pertaining to energy and environmental sustainability. A variety of design strategies have been enumerated in the literature which rely on the use of predesigned building blocks paving the way towards potentially more predictable structures. The two major design strategies presented in this work are the molecular building block (MBB) and supermolecular building block (SBB) -based approaches for the rationale assembly of functional MOF materials with the desired structural features. In this context, we targeted two highly connected MOF platforms, namely rht-MOF and shp-MOF. These two MOF platforms are classified based on their topology, defined as the underlying connectivity of their respective net, as edge transitive binodal nets; shp being (4,12)-connected net and rht being (3,24)-connected net. These highly connected nets were deliberately targeted due to the limited number of possible nets for connecting their associated basic building units. Two highly porous materials were designed and successfully constructed; namely Y-shp-MOF-5 and rht-MOF-10. The Y-shp-MOF-5 features a phenomenal water stability with an exquisite behavior when exposed to water, positioning this microporous material as the best adsorbent for moisture control applications. The shp-MOF platform proved to be modular to ligand functionalization and thus imparting significant behavioral changes when hydrophilic and hydrophobic functionalized ligands were introduced on the resultant MOF. On the other hand, rht-MOF-10 constituting of 24-connected transition metal based-SBB was successfully synthesized and activated using a modified supercritical CO2 drying technique. This allowed access to over 90 % of the total pore volume (1.95cm3/g). High pressure gas sorption measurements of CH4, CO2 and O2 showed that this material has a gravimetric uptake that ranks close to the best materials enlisted for the storage of these corresponding gases.

Gas transport properties of PIM-1 (the first ladder polymer with intrinsic microporosity) and TC-PIM-1 (thermally cross-linked PIM-1) at 35°C and different pressures were thoroughly studied. The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the performance of the TC-PIM-1 membranes with PIM-1 for natural gas separation. The TC-PIM-1 polymer was prepared by post-modification of PIM-1 at 300°C for a period of two days. Sorption isotherms of seven gases, including N2, O2, CH4, CO2, C2H6, C3H8 and n-C4H10, were determined for PIM-1 and TC-PIM-1 using the dual-volume barometric sorption technique at 35°C at different pressures. The sorption isotherms followed the dual-mode sorption model, which is typical for glassy polymers. Moreover, permeability (P) of eight gases, including He, H2, N2, O2, CH4, CO2, C3H8 and n-C4H10, were determined for PIM-1 and TC-PIM-1 at 35°C and 2.0 atm. Furthermore, average diffusion coefficients (D ̅) were calculated from the permeability and solubility data for all tested gases for both polymers. The sorption (S), permeability (P) and average diffusion coefficients (D ̅) for the TC-PIM-1 membrane exhibited lower values than the PIM-1 membrane. However, the TC-PIM-1 membrane showed exceptional gas separation performance. The TC-PIM-1 membrane had a helium (He) permeability of 1218 barrer with He/CH4 and He/N2 ideal selectivities of 27.1 and 23.9 respectively, and carbon dioxide (CO2) permeability of 1088 barrer with CO2/CH4 and CO2/N2 ideal selectivities of 24.2 and 21.3 respectively. Additionally, the TC-PIM-1 membrane showed a hydrogen (H2) permeability of 2452 barrer with an ideal H2/CH4 selectivity of 54.5.

RES³T - the Rossendorf Expert System for Surface and Sorption Thermodynamics - is a digitized thermodynamic sorption database, implemented as a relational database. It is mineral-specific and can therefore also be used for additive models of more complex solid phases such as rocks or soils. An integrated user interface helps users to access selected mineral and sorption data, to extract internally consistent data sets for sorption modeling, and to export them into formats suitable for other modeling software. Data records comprise of mineral properties, specific surface area values, characteristics of surface binding sites and their protolysis, sorption ligand information, and surface complexation reactions. An extensive bibliography is also included, providing links not only to the above listed data items, but also to background information concerning surface complexation model theories, surface species evidence, and sorption experiment techniques. The RES³T database is intended for an international use. This requires high standards in availability, consistency and actuality. Therefore the authors of the database decided to couple the database onto an authorization tool.

The specific surface area, determined by the BET method, is a parameter often used to scale results of mineral studies of surface reactions in terms of rate and capacity to the field scale. Such extrapolations of results from small-scale laboratory experiments to the field-scale are important within many environmental applications. An example of this is for the prediction of radionuclide retention in the bedrock surrounding a deep repository for radioactive waste, following failure of the engineered barriers, where radionuclides may sorb onto minerals constituting the geological environment. As a first step, the approach used in this work is to study the relationship between specific surface area and the particle size (0.075-8 mm) and to approach the field scale via measurements on large, centimetre-sized pieces, for seven natural minerals commonly found in granite: apatite, biotite, chlorite, K-feldspar, hornblende, labradorite and magnetite. The underlying assumption is that sorption of radionuclides can be related to specific surface area of a particular mineral in a continuation of this project.The results show that the phyllosilicates biotite and chlorite have a specific surface area that is about 10 times larger than the other minerals. Over the range of particle size fractions studied, the specific surface area varies between 0.1 and 1.2 m2g-1 for biotite and chlorite. The other studied minerals have specific surface areas varying between 0.01 m2g-1 for the largest fraction and up to 0.06 - 0.12 m2g-1 for the smallest. Results show linear relationships between the specific surface area and the inverse of the particle size for all studied minerals for small particle sizes, as expected. For some minerals, however, the data seemingly can be divided in two linear trends, where a change in internal surface area, surface roughness and/or particle geometry as the particle size decreases may explain this behaviour. Interestingly, for larger particles, there is a deviation from the linearity observed for small particles. Tentatively, this behaviour is attributed to a disturbed zone, created by the mechanical treatment of the material during particle size reduction, extending throughout small particles, but not altering an undisturbed core of the larger particles. In agreement with this, measurements on large pieces show a surface area 5 to 150 times lower than expected from the linear trends observed for the crushed material, implying an overestimation of the surface area and possibly also of the sorption capacities of the rock material from simple extrapolations of experimental results employing finely crushed material to the field situation. / QC 20110929 / Äspö Radionuclide sorption

Vanadium is a white bright metal that belongs to group 5 in the periodic table of elements. It can exist in different oxidation states from -2 to +5 although the forms can be found naturally in the environment are (III), (IV) and (V). As vanadium is toxic at high concentrations, and as vanadium is a common contaminant from e.g., steel slags, more detailed knowledge on the environmental behavior of this metal is required. One important property is its sorption to soils, as this will determine the bioavailability and the risk of leaching from soils. In surface soils vanadium(V) is commonly the predominating redox species. Therefore the purpose of this study was to determine vanadium(V) sorption in 7 different soils in order to investigate the factors determining vanadium(V) sorption and to estimate the capacity of the soils to bind vanadium. From laboratory adsorption experiments, vanadium sorption has been studied as a function of pH, vanadium(V) concentration, and phosphorus status. The adsorbed vanadium(V) of investigated soils was compared on the basis of the Freundlich parameters m and log Kf. The clay content of the soil and the content of oxalate soluble iron and aluminum were two important factors for the vanadium(V) sorption behavior. The higher the values of these soil properties, the stronger was vanadium(V) sorption. Among the soils investigated here the sorption strength was highest for the Kungängen A3 soil and then decreased in the following order Säby, Kungsängen D3, Pustnäs, Termunck, Guadalajara and Zwijnaarde. It is notable that the three soils with the strongest vanadium(V) sorption were clay soils, whereas the other four were sandy or silty soils. The pH dependence of vanadium sorption was also determined. The results show that the percentage sorbed vanadium(V) increases with decreasing pH. This is due probably to the anion properties of vanadium(V) (i.e. vanadate) in combination with increased positive surface charge on the soil colloids at lower pH. Moreover there is a competition between phosphate and vanadium(V) for sorption sites, which will cause less vanadium(V) sorption in soils. Therefore both the pH value and the phosphorus status are two additional factors that influence the vanadium sorption properties of soils.

Nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) should be removed and recycled from wastewater in order to reduce the nutrient load to recipient waters, avoiding contamination of groundwater and conserve resources. There is a need to pay more attention to phosphorus (P) removal and recycling from wastewater due to limited availability of phosphorus recourses. For such purpose reactive filter media can be used to remove nutrient from wastewater as a sustainable technology. The present study was aimed to evaluate calcium silicate hydrate crystallization in Absol as a reactive filter media for removal and recycle of phosphorus from household wastewater and assess physical and chemical characteristics of Absol. A study of the color removing capacity of Absol was also performed. Several batch experiments were done for comparing absorption mechanism. Collected data were applied to Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models to study type of adsorption isotherms and pseudofirst- order and second order models were run for study of adsorption kinetics. The experiment demonstrated a very high P and Methylene Blue (MB) sorption capacity. The amount of adsorbed P and MB vary with initial solution concentrations, contact time, and adsorbent dosage. Both equilibrium data (P, MB) were fitted very well in the Langmuir isotherm equation, confirming the monolayer physical sorption and adsorption kinetic followed by the pseudo-second order kinetic model. It is concluded that Absol can have potential to be use for the removal of P, textile dye contaminants and probably also pharmaceuticals present in wastewater.

No description available.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) constructed from metal atoms connected by organic linkers have received extensive attention for greenhouse gas separation in the past decades. Moreover, their large surface area makes them a promising candidate as adsorbents for gas sorption. This project aims to develop MOFs via different synthesis instructions by utilizing  Mg-containing materials, including Commercial MgCO3  and Mesoporous Magnesium Carbonate (Upsalite) as a source of the metal part and four different organic linkers. Water, Ethanol, Methanol, and N, N-dimethylformamide were used as solvents. First, synthesis was performed at room temperature, followed by high temperature using an autoclave and reactor. Then, the successfully synthesized samples were characterized by different characterization methods. These characterization techniques included Powder X-ray Diffraction (PXRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Infrared Spectroscopy (IR).  Porous properties of the MOFs were tested by gas adsorption techniques, including N2  and CO2 as adsorbate gases. As a result, it was found that synthesized MOFs have a high surface area and porosity to adsorb greenhouse gases and separate CO2 from N2. The highest surface area, N2, and CO2 adsorption amounts were 539 m²/g, 0.32 (mmol/g at 293K,1bar), and 3.31 (mmol/g  at 293K,1bar), respectively. CO2  adsorption is approximately ten times N2  adsorption in almost all MOF synthesized samples. To achieve the best result regarding the high amounts of surface area, N2, and CO2  sorption,  synthesis at room temperature using Commercial MgCO3, H2dhbq linker, and water solvent was the best approach.

As underdeveloped nations continue to industrialize and the world population continues to increase, the need for energy, natural resources, and goods will lead to ever increasing heavy metal concentrations in various waste streams that can have damaging effects on plant life, wildlife, and human health. The focus of this study is to understand the impact of individual heavy metals on Nannocholoropsis salina microalgae growth and understand the potential of microalgae to be used as a bioremediation tool for contaminated water systems. Individual metals (As, Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Pb, Ni, Hg, Se, and Zn) were introduced into growth media. For each metal a baseline concentration was determined based on reported concentrations at various municipal and industrial wastewater sites. In addition to the baseline concentrations, experimentation was conducted at 10X and 40X the baseline to evaluate the potential for severely contaminated systems. Biological growth experimentation was performed in triplicate at the various contaminant concentrations and at 3 different light intensities. Results show nickel significantly reduced growth, while the other metal contaminated systems showed growth between 89% and 99% of the control. Increased heavy metal concentrations resulted in progressively lower growth rates. Lipid analysis shows most baseline metal concentrations slightly decrease or have minimal effects in lipid content. Metals analysis on the biomass showed the majority of the metals in the systems containing Cd, Co, Cu, and Pb were sorbed by the microalgae with minimal metals remaining in the growth media illustrating the effectiveness of microalgae to effectively bioremediate contaminated systems when contamination levels are sufficiently low to not detrimentally impact productivity. Microalgal biomass in the systems containing As, Cr, Ni, and Se showed decreased ability to sorb metal ions. Results show at moderate contamination levels, microalgae can be an effective tool for bioremediation.