Fuzzy modeling and parameters optimization for the enhancement of biodiesel production from waste frying oil over montmorillonite clay K-30

Role of microalgae in achieving sustainable development goals and circular economy

In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) set out 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be achieved by 2030. These goals highlight key objectives that must be addressed. Each target focuses on a unique perspective crucial to meeting these goals. Social, political, and economic issues are addressed to comprehensively review the main issues combating climate change and creating sustainable and environmentally friendly industries, jobs, and communities. Several mechanisms that involve judicious use of biological entities are among instruments that are being explored to achieve the targets of SDGs. Microalgae have an increasing interest in various sectors, including; renewable energy, food, environmental management, water purification, and the production of chemicals such as biofertilizers, cosmetics, and healthcare products. The significance of microalgae also arises from their tendency to consume CO2, which is the main greenhouse gas and the major contributor to the climate change. This work discusses the roles of microalgae in achieving the various SDGs. Moreover, this work elaborates on the contribution of microalgae to the circular economy. It was found that the microalgae contribute to all the 17th SDGs, where they directly contribute to 9th of the SDGs and indirectly contribute to the rest. The major contribution of the Microalgae is clear in SDG-6 "Clean water and sanitation", SDG-7 "Affordable and clean energy", and SDG-13 "Climate action". Furthermore, it was found that Microalgae have a significant contribution to the circular economy.

Standalone hybrid PV/wind/diesel-electric generator system for a COVID-19 quarantine center

This work is motivated by the need in overcoming the electricity crisis in Gaza, which is initiated due to political reasons and the spread of COVID-19. Building quarantine centers is one of the most important means used in combating the COVID-19, but connecting these centers to the electricity distribution network at the appropriate time is not always possible and increases the burden on the local utility company. This article proposed a hybrid off-grid energy system (HES) to effectively energize the quarantine COVID-19 center in Gaza economically and environmentally. To achieve this aim, the estimated load profile of the quarantine center is fed to the HOMER-Pro program. In addition, the various systems components are introduced to the program, then modeled, and optimized. The developed approach was tested using a real case study considering realistic input data. HOMER-Pro program is used to simulate and optimize the system design. The results revealed the potential of the HES to provide environment-friendly, cost-effective, and affordable electricity for the studied quarantine center, as compared to just the diesel generators system. For the considered case study, it is found that the PV-wind-diesel generators HES can cover the connected load with the lowest cost ($ 0.348/kWh) in comparison to other possible HES structures. Taking into consideration the price of harmful emissions, the wining system shows a reduction of 54.89% of the cost of energy (CoE) compared to other systems. For the considered case study, it is found that a combination of 150 kW PV, 200 kW wind, and two diesel generators with capacities of 500 and 250 kW can hold 100% of the electrical load required to keep the quarantine COVID-19 center in operation. The initial capital cost of this HES is $510,576 where the share of wind energy, solar PV, inverter, and diesel-electric generators are $320,000, $83,076, $25,000, and $82,500, respectively. The replacemen cost ($55,918) is due to diesel generators. The total operation and maintainance cost (O&M) is $268,737, that is, 25.6% for wind turbines, 1.2% for inverters, and 70.7% for diesel electric generators. The PV/wind/diesel generators HES generate 1,659,038 kWh of electricity. The total energy requirement of 1,442,553 kWh, which means a surplus of 212,553 kWh of energy/year. The total energy (kWh) is an integration of energy sources which are 427,276 (25.8%), 274,500 (16.5%), and 857,263 (57.7%), due to wind, solar and diesel generators respectively. The cost of yearly consumed fuel is $437,828.769. The payback period for the winning system is 1.8 years. Finally, it is proved that the developed approach gives a reasonable solution to the decision-makers to find a fast, economic and reliable solution to energize the quarantine centers.

A review on activated carbon modifications for the treatment of wastewater containing anionic dyes

Polluted water resources, particularly those polluted with industrial effluents' dyes, are carcinogenic and hence pose a severe threat to sustainable and longstanding worldwide development. Meanwhile, adsorption is a promising process for polluted/wastewater treatment. In particular, activated carbon (AC) is popular among various wastewater treatment adsorbents, especially in the organic contaminants' remediation in wastewater. Hence, the AC's synthesis from degradable and non-degradable resources, the carbon activation involved in the AC synthesis, and the AC's modification to cutting-edge and effective materials have been modern-research targets in recent years. Likewise, the main research focuses worldwide have been the salient AC characteristics, such as its surface chemistry, porosity, and enhanced surface area. Notably, various modified-AC synthesis methods have been employed to enhance the AC's potential for improved contaminants-removal. Hence, we critically analyze the different modified ACs (with enhanced (surface) functional groups and textural properties) of their capacity to remove different-natured anionic dyes in wastewater. We also discuss the corresponding AC modification techniques, the factors affecting the AC properties, and the modifying agents' influence on the AC's morphological/adsorptive properties. Finally, the AC research of future interest has been proposed by identifying the current AC research gaps, especially related to the AC's application in wastewater treatment.

Scientometric analysis and scientific trends on microplastics research

In recent years, the environmental pollution of microplastics has attracted much attention. To date, there have been a lot of researches on microplastics and a series of studies published. In this study, by bibliometric analysis method to evaluated the development and evolution on microplastics research trends and hot spots. A total of 2872 literature information was collected from the Web of Science (2004-2020), which was used for bibliometric visual analysis by CiteSpace. It was possible to see the contributing countries, institutions, authors, keywords, and future study directions in the microplastics sectors by looking at the visual representation of the results. (1) Since 2004, scientific advancements in this sector have advanced significantly, with a significant increase in speed since 2012. (2) China and the United States are the world's leading researchers in microplastics. (3) The study of microplastics was multidisciplinary, comprising researchers from the fields of ecology, chemistry, molecular biology, environmental science, and oceanography. (4) In recent years, researchers have concentrated their attention on the distribution and toxicity of microplastics in the environment, as well as their coupled pollution with heavy metal contaminants. In conclusion microplastics study in environmental science has become increasingly popular in recent years. Topics include dispersion, toxicity, and coupled pollution with heavy metal pollutants. Researchers in a wide range of fields are involved in microplastics research. Furthermore, policies and regulations about microplastics in global were summarized, and membrane technology has potential to remove microplastics from water. The above findings help to clearly grasp the content and development trend of microplastics research, point out the future research direction for scholars, and promote microplastics research and pollution prevention and control.

Adaptive Network Fuzzy Inference System and Particle Swarm Optimization of Biohydrogen Production Process

Green hydrogen is considered to be one of the best candidates for fossil fuels in the near future. Bio-hydrogen production from the dark fermentation of organic materials, including organic wastes, is one of the most cost-effective and promising methods for hydrogen production. One of the main challenges posed by this method is the low production rate. Therefore, optimizing the operating parameters, such as the initial pH value, operating temperature, N/C ratio, and organic concentration (xylose), plays a significant role in determining the hydrogen production rate. The experimental optimization of such parameters is complex, expensive, and lengthy. The present research used an experimental data asset, adaptive network fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) modeling, and particle swarm optimization to model and optimize hydrogen production. The coupling between ANFIS and PSO demonstrated a robust effect, which was evident through the improvement in the hydrogen production based on the four input parameters. The results were compared with the experimental and RSM optimization models. The proposed method demonstrated an increase in the biohydrogen production of 100 mL/L compared to the experimental results and a 200 mL/L increase compared to the results obtained using ANOVA.

Coconut oil and fermented palm wine biodiesel production for oil spill cleanup: experimental, numerical, and hybrid metaheuristic modeling approaches

This paper for the first time synthesizes novel biodiesel experimentally using low-cost feedstocks of coconut oil, caustic soda, and fermented palm wine contaminated by microorganisms. The alkaline catalyzed transesterification method was used for biodiesel production with minimal glycerol. The produced biodiesel was biodegradable and effective in cleaning a shoreline oil spill experiment verified by our developed oil spill radial numerical simulator. For the first time, an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) was hybridized with invasive weed optimization (IWO), imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA), and shuffled complex evolution (SCE-UA) to predict biodiesel yield (BY) using obtained Monte Carlo simulation datasets from the biodiesel experimental seed data. The test results indicated ANFIS-IWO (MSE = 0.0628) as the best model and also when compared to the benchmarked ANFIS genetic algorithm (MSE = 0.0639). Additionally, ANFIS-IWO (RMSE = 0.54705) was tested on another coconut biodiesel data in the literature and it outperformed both response surface methodology (RMSE = 0.72739) and artificial neural network (RMSE = 0.68615) models used. The hybridized models proved to be robust for biodiesel yield modeling in addition to the produced biodiesel serving as an environmentally acceptable and cost-effective alternative for shoreline bioremediation.

Phyllosilicate derived catalysts for efficient conversion of lignocellulosic derived biomass to biodiesel: A review

The efforts have been made to review phyllosilicate derived (clay-based) heterogeneous catalysts for biodiesel production via lignocellulose derived feedstocks. These catalysts have many practical and potential applications in green catalysis. Phyllosilicate derived heterogeneous catalysts (modified via any of these approaches like acid activated clays, ion exchanged clays and layered double hydroxides) exhibits excellent catalytic activity for producing cost effective and high yield biodiesel. The combination of different protocols (intercalated catalysts, ion exchanged catalysts, acidic activated clay catalysts, clay-supported catalysts, composites and hybrids, pillared interlayer clay catalysts, and hierarchically structured catalysts) was implemented so as to achieve the synergetic effects (acidic-basic) in resultant material (catalyst) for efficient conversion of lignocellulose derived feedstock (non-edible oils) to biodiesel. Utilisation of these Phyllosilicate derived catalysts will pave path for future researchers to investigate the cost-effective, accessible and improved approaches in synthesising novel catalysts that could be used for converting lignocellulosic biomass to eco-friendly biodiesel.

Uniqueness technique for introducing high octane environmental gasoline using renewable oxygenates and its formulation on Fuzzy modeling

The depletion of fuel production and raising ecological issues have paid the progress of biofuels in the entire world. Among different biofuels is introducing renewable fuel additives as prospective beneficial blendstocks towards fulfilling systematic, low-carbon technologies internal combustion engines. This research article proposes a new approach to formulate a Fuzzy modeling for examining various promising alternative renewable oxygenated compounds, including ethanol, isopropanol, MTBE, and 2-methyl furan into heavy hydrocracked gasoline a base fuel. No previous study has utilized Fuzzy modeling in formulation of producing high octane fuel based on renewable additives compounds. The effect of selected additives was investigated on the antiknock characteristics. The results reported that the quality and quantity of heavy hydrocracked naphtha have been reinforced, using low carbon oxygenates. Besides, the acquired results provided the possibility to determine the optimum range of selected renewable oxygenates percentages of 30-50% wt. The calculated data of Fuzzy modeling were verified with experimental results. It illustrated that predicted environmental gasoline yields agreed well with experimental results. Finally, low carbon liquid fuel could contribute to produce high quality environmental gasoline, improve environmental characteristics, in terms of decreasing greenhouses emissions, and maximize the vehicles technologies.

Environmental Production Efficiency in the European Union Countries as a Tool for the Implementation of Goal 7 of the 2030 Agenda

The main purpose of the paper is to present a proposal to measure the relationships between Goal 7 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and one of the areas considered in the green growth concept: environmental production efficiency. Both of these areas illustrate the relationship between the natural environment and the economy, emphasizing transformations in the field of energy use. Selected taxonomic methods, TOPSIS, and multicriteria taxonomy, were applied to study the relationships between the two areas. The results of the EU countries classification showed a variety of countries’ development pathways within a single economic community. Despite continued attempts to equalize the development levels between European Union countries in many strategic areas, they remain highly diversified. That is also true for the areas analyzed in the paper, which is a disturbing situation, indicating that both strategies might not correlate in all respects. Further research into the relationships linking the remaining dimensions of both strategies is required.

Dynamic Analysis of the Similarity of Objects in Research on the Use of Renewable Energy Resources in European Union Countries

The energy transformation towards renewable energy sources in the conditions of climate change and the accompanying climate risk is a priority for all countries in the world. However, the degree of advancement of activities in this area varies significantly between countries, which is the result of different activities for renewable energy sources in individual countries. The aim of this article is to determine the trends of changes in the area of the use of renewable energy sources in EU countries. The study uses TMD (taxonomic measure of development) methods and dynamic classification, which allowed to distinguish typological groups of objects with similar dynamics of the studied phenomenon. The EU 28 countries were analyzed. Statistics (Eurostat database) are provided for the period 2004–2019. As a result of the research, it was found that the Scandinavian countries and the countries of Western Europe were characterized by the highest stability in terms of the use of renewable energy sources over time. These countries also recorded the smallest increases in TMD. On the other hand, the unfavorable situation in terms of stability was observed mainly in the countries of Southern Europe.

Environment and sustainability approach to manage sweet bakery waste product

Globalization and environmental regulations force organizations and producers to adopt sustainability in every aspect of their business. The concept of sustainability in manufacturing is now achieving maturity; however, there is still an opportunity to explore sustainability in perishable food items. The growth of population worldwide increased the amount of waste produced by the food industries. Enterprises worldwide use procedures to overcome the disposing of perishable waste into landfills, which has noticeable impacts on the environment and the business itself. However, these procedures may not be sufficient and lead to disturbance of the ecosystem. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to develop a framework to conduct experiments using Design of Experiment (DOE) to produce fertilizer using expired doughnuts from a well-known sweet bakery company in the United Arab Emirates. Firstly, we will develop a framework, implement waste management on perishable products such as doughnuts, and apply environmental, economic, and social development through recycling and composting it into fertilizers to be used for agriculture needs. Secondly, to study the impact of different parameters such as water, sand, doughnuts in different percentages on plant growth and survival. Results show that wasted doughnuts are suitable for fertilizer and the best plant due to interaction between all three factors: commercial fertilizer percentage, doughnuts percentage, and doughnuts size.

Fuel cells for carbon capture applications

The harmful effect of carbon pollution leads to depletion of the ozone layer, which is one of the main challenges confronting the world. Although progress is made in developing different carbon dioxide (CO₂) capturing methods, these methods are still expensive and face several technical challenges. Fuel cells (FCs) are efficient energy converting devices that produce energy via an electrochemical process. Recently varying kinds of fuel cells are considered as an effective method for CO₂ capturing and/or conversion. Among the different types of fuel cells, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs), and microbial fuel cells (MFCs) demonstrated promising results in this regard. High-temperature fuel cells such as SOFCs and MCFCs are effectively used for CO₂ capturing through their electrolyte and have shown promising results in combination with power plants or industrial effluents. An algae-based microbial fuel cell is an electrochemical device used to capture and convert carbon dioxide through the photosynthesis process using algae strains to organic matters and simultaneously power generation. This review present a brief background about carbon capture and storage techniques and the technological advancement related to carbon dioxide captured by different fuel cells, including molten carbonate fuel cells, solid oxide fuel cells, and algae-based fuel cells.

A critical review on environmental impacts of renewable energy systems and mitigation strategies: Wind, hydro, biomass and geothermal

The annual growth of global energy demand and the associated environmental impacts (EIs) has an important role in the large sustainable and green global energy transition. Renewable energy systems have been attracting substantial economic, environmental, and technical attention throughout the last decade, while some have been in the market for almost a century. However, even renewable energy may negatively affect the environment, which is widely considered much less harsh than fossil energy resources. This, in return, requires more consideration and appropriate precautions to be taken. This work discusses the environmental impacts (EIs) of small and medium-sized wind, hydro, biomass, and geothermal power systems. The approach goes through all stages from planning and conception to construction and installation and throughout service life and decommissioning. For various circumstances and technically and ecologically viable guidelines for their effect on natural resources and wildlife, clear and comprehensive solutions have been given.

Recent progress in environmentally friendly geopolymers: A review

The manufacturing of cement demand burning of huge quantities of fuel as well as significant emissions of CO₂ resulting from the decomposition of limestone that consequently resulted in severe environmental impact that is estimated by one ton of CO₂ per ton of cement. Geopolymerization technology is an effective method for converting wastes (containing alumina and silica) into useful products. It can reduce CO₂ emissions significantly from the cement industry. The geopolymerization process usually starts with source materials based on alumina/silicate in addition to alkaline liquids. The compressive strength, setting time, and workability of the final product depends mainly on the type and proportions of the precursors, the type and strength of the activator, the mixing and curing conditions. The structural performance of a geopolymer is similar to that of ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Therefore, geopolymer can replace OPC, and thus decreasing the energy consumption, reducing the cost of the building materials, and minimizing the environmental impacts of the cement industry. This review summaries the mechanism of geopolymerization, including the controlling parameters and different raw materials (fly ash, kaolinite and metakaolin, slag, red mud, silica waste, heavy metals waste, and others) with particular focus on recent studies and challenges in this area.

Progress in carbon capture technologies

Human factors are one of the key contributors to carbon dioxide emissions into the environment. Since the industrial revolution, the atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have increased appreciably. This has been attributed to the utilization of fossil fuels for energy generation coupled with the clearing of forests and extensive manufacturing of some industrial products such as cement. The increase in atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide has been widely linked to climate change and the Earth's temperature. A drastic approach is therefore needed in terms of policy formulation to address this global challenge. Carbon capture and storage are reliable tools that can be introduced to the industrial sector to address this issue. Therefore, this review presents a thorough investigation of the various technologies that can be harnessed to capture carbon dioxide. The cost associated with the capture, transport, and storage of the carbon dioxide is discussed. Socio-economic aspects of carbon capture and storage technologies are also presented in this review. Factors influencing public awareness of the technology and perceptions associated with carbon capture and storage should be a point for consideration in future research activities relating to this novel technology. This, in effect, this will ensure effective expert knowledge communication to the general public and foster social acceptance of this technology.

Technical insights into the production of green fuel from CO2 sequestered algal biomass: A conceptual review on green energy

Algae a promising energy reserve due to its adaptability, cheap source, sustainability and it's growth ability in wastewater with efficient sequestration of industrial carbon dioxide. This review summarizes the pathways available for biofuel production from carbon sequestered algae biomass. In this regard, this review focuses on microalgae and its cultivation in wastewater with CO₂ sequestration. Conversion of carbon sequestered biomass into bio-fuels via thermo-chemical routes and its engine emission properties. Energy perspective of green gaseous biofuels in near future. This review revealed that algae was the pre-dominant CO₂ sequester than terrestrial plants in an eco-friendly and economical way with simultaneous wastewater remediation. Hydrothermal liquefaction of algae biomass was the most preferred mode for biofuel generation than pyrolysis due to high moisture content. The algae based fuels exhibit less greenhouse gases emission and higher energy value. This review helps the researchers, environmentalists and industrialists to evaluate the impact of algae based bio-energy towards green energy and environment.

Environmental impacts of solar energy systems: A review

The annual increases in global energy consumption, along with its environmental issues and concerns, are playing significant roles in the massive sustainable and renewable global transmission of energy. Solar energy systems have been grabbing most attention among all the other renewable energy systems throughout the last decade. However, even renewable energies can have some adverse environmental repercussions; therefore, further attention and proper precautional procedures should be given. This paper discusses in detail the environmental impacts of several commercial and emerging solar energy systems at both small- and utility-scales. The study expands to some of the related advances, as well as some of the essential elements in their systems. The approach follows all the stages, starting with the designs, then throughout their manufacturing, materials, construction or installation phases, and over operation lifetime and decommissioning. Specific solutions for most systems such as waste minimization and recycling are discussed, alongside with some technically and ecologically favorable recommendations for mitigating the impacts.

Environmental aspects of fuel cells: A review

Fossil fuels represent the primary energy supply utilized worldwide. Despite this, fossil fuels are both limited resources and have severe environmental impacts that result in climate change and several health issues. Fuel cells (FCs) are efficient energy conversion devices, which can be used for energy conversion and storage. Although different types of FCs exhibit promising features for future usage, they also have some environmental aspects that ought to be addressed. This review summarizes the different types of FCs, including the advantages and disadvantages of each. The different environmental aspects of the common types of FCs are then comprehensively discussed. This review also compares FCs to conventional power generation systems to illustrate their relative environmental benefits. Although FCs are considered more environmental-friendly compared to conventional energy conversion systems, there are still evident operational and environmental setbacks among different FC types. These setbacks, however, must be compared in context of the intended application, fuel type, and all other involved factors in order to have a clear and fair comparison. FCs are considered environmentally friendly and more efficient. However, this is usually only when considering the operational phase or the operational perspective. The main challenge facing FCs still remains fuel sourcing, like, for example, in the case of obtaining hydrogen for hydrogen FCs, where hydrogen production causes environmental impacts. The same applies for electrode materials, where, in many cases, either a noble metal such as platinum, or other precious metals, or costly material. With this consideration, a life cycle assessment (LCA) is a useful tool that considers all of the manufacturing, fuel sourcing, and operational phases. Although using FCs shows evident environmental improvements compared to conventional energy sources, the LCA of FCs compared to that of conventional power sources shows a similar performance. This is mainly due to the EIs associated with fuel sourcing and material acquisition, either for precious metals used for low-temperature FCs, or thermally and chemically stable materials used for medium- and high-temperature FCs. Both of these also contribute largely to the cost of FCs. Developments in both areas will undoubtedly help to make FCs both more environmental-friendly and cost-efficient.

Recent progress of graphene based nanomaterials in bioelectrochemical systems

The application of graphene (Gr) to microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and microbial electrolysis cell (MECs) is considered a very promising approach in terms of enhancing their performance. The superior Gr properties of high electrical and thermal conductivities, along with: superior specific surface area, high electron mobility, and mechanical strength, are the key features that endorse this. Factors impeding the advancement of a microbial fuel cell into commercialization involve primarily the cost of their components, and their production on a small scale. Gr with such outstanding characteristics can help mitigate these challenges, when used as electrode material. The application of Gr as an anode material improves the efficiency of electron transfer and bacterial attachment. When used as a cathode material, it supports the oxygen reduction reaction. This investigation, presents a thorough analysis of the feasibility of Gr as an electrode material in both MFC and MEC applications - based on experimental results from the investigation. Current technological advancements in the implementation of Gr in MFC and MEC are also highlighted in this review. To summarise, the investigation exposes critical issues impeding the advancement of microbial fuel cells, and proposes possible solutions to mitigate these challenges.

Recent progress in environmentally friendly bio-electrochemical devices for simultaneous water desalination and wastewater treatment

Bio-electrochemical systems (BESs) use electroactive micro-organisms for degrading organic materials in wastes for energy and/or chemical production. Microbial based desalination system is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly technique that can be used for water desalination with simultaneous wastewater treatment and energy harvesting. These systems can be used as a standalone technology for water desalination such as microbial desalination cell, microbial electrolysis desalination cell, or a hybrid with other desalination technology. This review summarized the recent progress in using BESs for water desalination, including microbial fuel cell-based desalination (MDC) and microbial electrolysis cell-based desalination (MEDC). The different scaling up trials to commercialize this technology, including the controlling parameters, are discussed. Moreover, the different hybrid desalination systems based on BES are summarized. Finally, the challenges facing the commercialization of the MDC systems were summarized.

A Carbon-Cloth Anode Electroplated with Iron Nanostructure for Microbial Fuel Cell Operated with Real Wastewater

Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is an emerging method for extracting energy from wastewater. The power generated from such systems is low due to the sluggish electron transfer from the inside of the biocatalyst to the anode surface. One strategy for enhancing the electron transfer rate is anode modification. In this study, iron nanostructure was synthesized on a carbon cloth (CC) via a simple electroplating technique, and later investigated as a bio-anode in an MFC operated with real wastewater. The performance of an MFC with a nano-layer of iron was compared to that using bare CC. The results demonstrated that the open-circuit voltage increased from 600 mV in the case of bare CC to 800 mV in the case of the iron modified CC, showing a 33% increase in OCV. This increase in OCV can be credited to the decrease in the anode potential from 0.16 V vs. Ag/AgCl in the case of bare CC, to −0.01 V vs. Ag/AgCl in the case of the modified CC. The power output in the case of the modified electrode was 80 mW/m2—two times that of the MFC using the bare CC. Furthermore, the steady-state current in the case of the iron modified carbon cloth was two times that of the bare CC electrode. The improved performance was correlated to the enhanced electron transfer between the microorganisms and the iron-plated surface, along with the increase of the anode surface- as confirmed from the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and the surface morphology, respectively.

Prospects of Fuel Cell Combined Heat and Power Systems

Combined heat and power (CHP) in a single and integrated device is concurrent or synchronized production of many sources of usable power, typically electric, as well as thermal. Integrating combined heat and power systems in today’s energy market will address energy scarcity, global warming, as well as energy-saving problems. This review highlights the system design for fuel cell CHP technologies. Key among the components discussed was the type of fuel cell stack capable of generating the maximum performance of the entire system. The type of fuel processor used was also noted to influence the systemic performance coupled with its longevity. Other components equally discussed was the power electronics. The thermal and water management was also noted to have an effect on the overall efficiency of the system. Carbon dioxide emission reduction, reduction of electricity cost and grid independence, were some notable advantages associated with fueling cell combined heat and power systems. Despite these merits, the high initial capital cost is a key factor impeding its commercialization. It is, therefore, imperative that future research activities are geared towards the development of novel, and cheap, materials for the development of the fuel cell, which will transcend into a total reduction of the entire system. Similarly, robust, systemic designs should equally be an active research direction. Other types of fuel aside, hydrogen should equally be explored. Proper risk assessment strategies and documentation will similarly expand and accelerate the commercialization of this novel technology. Finally, public sensitization of the technology will also make its acceptance and possible competition with existing forms of energy generation feasible. The work, in summary, showed that proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEM fuel cell) operated at a lower temperature-oriented cogeneration has good efficiency, and is very reliable. The critical issue pertaining to these systems has to do with the complication associated with water treatment. This implies that the balance of the plant would be significantly affected; likewise, the purity of the gas is crucial in the performance of the system. An alternative to these systems is the PEM fuel cell systems operated at higher temperatures.

Data on fuzzy logic based-modelling and optimization of recovered lipid from microalgae

This article presents the data of recovered lipid from microalgae using fuzzy logic based-modelling and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. The details of fuzzy model and optimization process were discussed in our work entitled “Application of Fuzzy Modelling and Particle Swarm Optimization to Enhance Lipid Extraction from Microalgae” (Nassef et al., 2019) [1]. The presented data are divided into two main parts. The first part represents the percentage of recovered lipid using fuzzy logic model and ANOVA. However, the second part shows the variation of the cost function (recovered lipid) for the 100 runs of PSO algorithm during optimization process. These data sets can be used as references to analyze the data obtained by any other optimization technique. The data sets are provided in the supplementary materials in Tables 1–2.

Dataset on fuzzy logic based-modelling and optimization of thermophysical properties of nanofluid mixture

This article presents the dataset generated during the process of enhancing the thermophysical properties of nanofluid mixture through fuzzy logic based-modelling and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. The details of fuzzy model and optimization phases were discussed in our work entitled “Fuzzy modeling and optimization for experimental thermophysical properties of water and ethylene glycol mixture for Al₂O₃ and TiO₂ based nanofluids” (Said et al., 2019). In (Said et al., 2019), the detail of the numerical data has not been clearly presented. However, in this article the inputs’ data values for the density, viscosity, and thermal conductivity, used for training and testing of the fuzzy model, have been mentioned which is very essential if the model has to be rebuilt again. Furthermore, the resulting data variation of the cost function for the 100 runs during the optimization process that had not been presented in (Said et al., 2019) is presented in this work. These data sets can be used as references to analyze the data resulting from any other optimization technique. The datasets are provided in the supplementary materials in Tables 1–4