Repositório do LNEG
National Laboratory of Energy and Geology Scientific Repository
Welcome to LNEG’s Scientific Repository
The LNEG’s Scientific Repository intends to preserve, disseminate and give access to LNEG's scientific production in digital format.
The objectives of the Repository are: to increase the visibility and impact of the research carried out at LNEG, to improve internal and external communication and to preserve the institution's intellectual memory.
Recent Submissions
Advancing Sustainable Production of High-Performance Cellulose Pulps
Publication . Moran, Guadalupe; Costa Trigo, Iván; Bastida, Gabriela Adriana; Mazega, André; Duran, Josep; Domínguez, José Manuel; Vilaseca, Fabiola
ABSTRACT: Highlights What are the main findings? Enzymatic hydrolysis pretreatment of industrial pulps Pulp composition influencing the enzymatic performance Enhanced conditions for high-performance cellulose pulps What is the implication of the main finding? Sustainable methodology to produce cellulose pulps Lower environmental impact and alignment with circular economic principles Improvements in tensile strength, air permeability, hydrophobicity, and internal bondingHighlights What are the main findings? Enzymatic hydrolysis pretreatment of industrial pulps Pulp composition influencing the enzymatic performance Enhanced conditions for high-performance cellulose pulps What is the implication of the main finding? Sustainable methodology to produce cellulose pulps Lower environmental impact and alignment with circular economic principles Improvements in tensile strength, air permeability, hydrophobicity, and internal bondingAbstract With a growing demand for renewable resources in high-performance materials, sustainable methods are preferred for their lower environmental impact and alignment with circular economy principles. Among these, enzymatic hydrolysis remains relatively underexplored yet shows strong potential for cellulose fibrillation, offering a promising route that may lower energy requirements by minimizing the need for extensive refining compared to conventional mechanical or chemical approaches. In this study, enzyme cocktails rich in cellulase and xylanase were applied to three industrial pulps, sulphite, bleached Kraft eucalyptus and thermomechanical pine, to produce high-performance cellulose pulps. Treatments were carried out using varying enzyme loads (5-40 filter paper units per gram of dry pulp, FPU/gdp) and reaction times (1-16 h). The resulting chemical composition, structural morphology, and physical-mechanical properties were systematically evaluated. The findings revealed that pulp composition strongly influenced enzymatic treatment, affecting surface fibrillation, fibre aggregation, swelling, and fibre shortening. Under optimized conditions, enzymatic pretreatment significantly enhanced paper performance, with improvements in tensile strength, air permeability, hydrophobicity, and internal bonding. Overall, enzymatic hydrolysis represents a sustainable solution and a strategy which could reduce energy expenditures to high-performance cellulose pulps, suitable as reinforcing fibres in packaging applications.
Optimized Planning Framework for Radial Distribution Network Considering AC and DC EV Chargers, Uncertain Solar PVDG, and DSTATCOM Using HHO
Publication . Bonela, Ramesh; Tripathy, Sasmita; Roy Ghatak, Sriparna; Swain, Sarat Chandra; Lopes, Fernando; Acharjee, Parimal
ABSTRACT: This study aims to provide an efficient framework for the coordinated integration of AC and DC chargers, intermittent solar Photovoltaic (PV) Distributed Generation (DG) units, and a Distribution Static Compensator (DSTATCOM) across residential, commercial, and industrial zones of a Radial Distribution Network (RDN) considering the benefits of various stakeholders: Electric Vehicle (EV) charging station owners, EV owners, and distribution network operators. The model uses a multi-zone planning method and healthy-bus strategy to allocate Electric Vehicle Charging Stations (EVCSs), Photovoltaic Distributed Generation (PVDG) units, and DSTATCOMs. The proposed framework optimally determines the numbers of EVCSs, PVDG units, and DSTATCOMs using Harris Hawk Optimization, considering the maximization of techno-economic benefits while satisfying all the security constraints. Further, to showcase the benefits from the perspective of EV owners, an EV waiting-time evaluation is performed. The simulation results show that integrating EVCSs (with both AC and DC chargers) with solar PVDG units and DSTATCOMs in the existing RDN improves the voltage profile, reduces power losses, and enhances cost-effectiveness compared to the system with only EVCSs. Furthermore, the zonal division ensures that charging infrastructure is distributed across the network increasing accessibility to the EV users. It is also observed that combining AC and DC chargers across the network provides overall benefits in terms of voltage profile, line loss, and waiting time as compared to a system with only AC or DC chargers. The proposed framework improves EV owners' access and reduces waiting time, while supporting distribution network operators through enhanced grid stability and efficient integration of EV loads, PV generation, and DSTATCOM.
Improving Carbon Fixation and Acetate Production from Syngas Fermentation: On-Demand Versus Continuous Feeding
Publication . Pacheco, Marta; Silva, Tiago; silva, carla; Moura, Patrícia
ABSTRACT: Syngas fermentation is a promising carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technology for producing carboxylic acids while transforming low-cost waste gas into high-value products. This study evaluates the two bioreactor feeding strategies for synthesis gas (syngas) fermentation by Eubacterium callanderi (formerly Butyribacterium methylotrophicum) strain Marburg-on-demand feeding (ODF) and continuous feeding (CF)-with a synthetic syngas mixture of 23 vol% CO2, 29 vol% CO, 32 vol% H2, and 16 vol% CH4, mimicking the syngas from lignocellulosic gasification. The ODF assay achieved a maximum syngas consumption rate of 112 mL/h, yielding 24.1 g/L acids, namely 22.9 g/L acetate and 1.3 g/L butyrate. CF of syngas at 223 mL/h required more gas (62.9 L) to produce 22.7 g/L total acids, from which 19.0 g/L acetate and 3.7 g/L butyrate were achieved. The CF-specific production rate (gproduct/gdry_cell_weight/hour) reached 0.5 g/gDCW/h (acetate) and 0.17 g/gDCW/h (butyrate), outperforming ODF with 0.3 and 0.02 g/gDCW/h, respectively. ODF minimized gas wastage and enabled CH4 accumulation inside the bioreactor up to approximately 78 vol%, while CF led to CO2 accumulation, indicating a need for more efficient CO2 utilization strategies, such as sequential fermentations. This work highlights the critical impact of the two feeding options studied with regard to scaling up the carbon-efficient production of carboxylic acids, and indicates that both strategies can have potential applications. ODF is ideal for increasing carbon fixation and achieving, simultaneously, gas cleaning, while CF fermentations are better suited to maximizing the acid production rate.
Heat Flow Density Estimations in the Portuguese Northern Hercynian Massif using Silica Geothermometry
Publication . Correia, Antonio; Ramalho, Elsa
ABSTRACT: Surface heat flow density (HFD) estimates in the Portuguese northern Hercynian Massif are difficult to obtain using the usual Fourier method. As a matter of fact, this zone is mostly composed by granitoid and metamorphic rocks, and most wells drilled there are too shallow for reliable HFD calculations; furthermore, HFD estimates are scarce and their geographical distribution is still very irregular. All these conditions imply that a HFD map for this region must be obtained using alternative methods, such as the silica geothermometry method. Under certain conditions, the use of silica geothermometers to estimate HFD in mineral waters has proved to be an effective way to understand and establish the thermal regime in areas with scarce conventional HFD determinations. Because temperatures obtained with silica geothermometry are related to deep thermal conditions in the crust and to water-rock equilibrium, a regional HFD analysis may be carried out using those temperatures. The silica geothermometer, developed by Truesdell in 1976 (Truesdell, 1976), give good results for low SiO2 concentrations, which is the case for the Portuguese northern Hercynian Massif, and is applied to more than 30 samples of mineral water occurrences reported for the zone. This number of samples, even though small, is considerably higher and more evenly distributed than conventional HFD estimates for the same area. Application of silica geothermometry to northern Hercynian Massif waters shows a discrete reservoir temperature zoning, ranging from about 45 ºC, in its southwest limit, to more than 120 ºC, towards its northeast limit. Using temperatures obtained by silica geothermometry and heat flow density values calculated through the conventional method in an area of 1º x 1º in the study zone, an empirical linear relationship between HFD and temperatures obtained by silica geothermometry is obtained and used to construct a HFD map for the Portuguese northern Hercynian Massif. The resulting HFD map is compared with the general geological and structural framework, and an attempt to a geothermal characterisation of the Portuguese northern Hercynian Massif is made.
Assessment of piggery wastewater treatment in vertical flow constructed wetlands: role of plants and aeration
Publication . de Oliveira Corrêa, Diego; Ferreira, Alice; Ribeiro, Belina; Gogoi, Jayanta; Karan, N.; Nalwad, A.; Ganguly, A.; Mutnuri, S.; Gouveia, Luisa
ABSTRACT: Piggery wastewater (PWW), rich in pollutants, poses significant environmental risks if not properly treated. Natural treatment processes, such as constructed wetlands (combined action of plants, substrates, and microbes) and microalgae cultivation, offer sustainable and low-cost alternatives for managing these effluents while enabling resource recovery. This study represents an initial step toward optimizing key operational conditions, such as aeration (passive and active), vegetation presence, and the use of single or sequential Vertical Flow Constructed Wetlands (VFCWs), for the treatment of piggery wastewater, using different experimental setups, at a laboratory scale. Indoor experiments were conducted over an 8-week period to optimize operational conditions for the treatment of PWW. The VFCWs, arranged in two stages and operated in series through gravity flow, were fed daily and monitored weekly. The best removal rates of total Kjeldahl nitrogen (42.9 %), ammoniacal nitrogen (50.3 %), and chemical oxygen demand (20.5 %), were observed in the second stage of VFCW without aeration and with plant. Nitrate and phosphorus levels increased during the experiment, likely due to microbial activity within the substrate and plant root zones. The final goal is to treat the piggery wastewater from a rural farm in India, produce electricity (by a Microbial Fuel Cell), to generate an effluent suitable for microalgae cultivation, with the produced biomass intended for use either as a biostimulant to enhance cereal crops included in pig diets or as a direct nutritional supplement in pig feed.