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Theses and dissertations (Engineering and Built Environment)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://ir-dev.dut.ac.za/handle/10321/10

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    Feasibility analysis and optimization of new energy technologies for sustainable development
    (2024-05) Kumba, Hagreaves; Olanrewaju, Oludolapo Akanni
    Energy is essential for crucial development in Africa. The current electricity shortages or load shedding in South Africa show the country faces significant challenges in reaching positive economic growth. For industries to operate sustainably, an innovative mechanism must be tailored to solve the negative impacts of industrial energy use, particularly climate change. Even though fossil fuels generate the majority of produced electricity in South Africa, the country’s potential for renewable energy sources is vast. In contrast, solar irradiance and wind offer considerable commercial potential. New renewable energy resources are widely seen as a means to address the challenges of climate change and energy insecurity. They can be of crucial importance in developing a sustainable economy in the country. The study aims to show how renewable energy technologies can provide new economic opportunities, contribute to higher standards of living, and reduce the impacts of society on ecosystems, among other things. This thesis presents a feasibility analysis and optimization of new energy technologies by designing and simulating a grid-connected PV system for sustainable development. The PVsyst software was used to simulate and optimize the PV system. The software was used to design and model the PV systems and to calculate the energy production, economic performance, and environmental impact. The researcher utilized simulation data to compare PV system performance in three scenarios and identify the optimal one. Overall, the findings of this thesis suggest that grid-connected PV systems are a feasible and sustainable option to meet South Africa's energy needs. By implementing the results and recommendations, the government, investors, and community can work together to develop and deploy a successful PV system that will benefit all.
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    Application of synthesized magnetic nanoparticles for biogas production using anaerobic digestion
    (2023) Amo-Duodu, Gloria; Rathilal, Sudesh; Chollom, Martha Noro
    South Africa is encountering severe challenges in the areas of energy, water, and wastewater management in recent times. This study addresses both water and energy aspects. It aims at using synthesised magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) on anaerobic digestion (AD) for biogas production from various wastewater sources in South Africa. The study experimented the feasibility of five different synthesized magnetic nanoparticles, magnetite (Fe3O4), copper ferrite (CuFe2O4), nickel ferrite (NiFe2O4), magnesium ferrite (MgFe2O4) and aluminium ferrite (AlFe2O4) on two different wastewater samples (industrial and municipal wastewater) from three sampling sources, Umbilo water works, Umgeni water and a sugar refinery industry. Five research objectives were accessed. The first objective was the synthesis and characterisation of MNPs using scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive x-ray (SEM/EDX), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The results showed a surface morphology of facecentred and monoclinic crystal structures with a size less than 20 nm. The nanostructures of ferrimagnetite and magnetite were obtained, and it had an O-H stretching and Fe-O vibration functional groups. The surface area obtained was found to be high for magnetite (Fe3O4) which was 27.597 m2 /g. The second objective was to evaluate the AD performance in terms of water quality and biogas production. This was carried out in two stages. The first was to evaluate the five MNPs with sugar refining wastewater. The second stage was to evaluate the performance of three best performing MNPs on two wastewater samples from Umbilo wastewater. The results for the first stage showed good degradation of organic matter for the bioreactors with MNPs which resulted in a higher yield of biogas and methane as compared to the control as well as good removal of contaminant (chemical oxygen demand (COD), colour and turbidity). Among the five MNPs used, Fe3O4, NiFe2O4 and CuFe2O4 had a contaminant removal efficiency of 60- 70% and a cumulative biogas yield of more than 140 ml/day with more than 85% methane composition, hence these three MNPs were found to be the best performed MNPs. The results obtained from the second stage for the three best performed MNPs indicated a high pollutant removal efficiency of more than 70% for Fe3O4, as well as a biogas yield of more than 1100 ml/day and a methane composition of approximately 98%. The third objective was the evaluation and optimisation of the anaerobic magnetised system for biogas production while the fourth objective involved a comparative study between the performances of magnetised biochemical methane potential (BMP) to non-magnetised biochemical methane potential. From the optimisation study, the predicted results obtained from the BBD-RSM showed an average contaminant removal of 70% and a biogas yield of 522 ml/day at an optimum MNP load of 0.5 g, retention time of 45 days, inoculum load of 500 ml, and a temperature of 35℃ with a desirability of 96% as the optimum conditions. With less than 2% deviation, the confirmatory test demonstrated equal performance at the optimum conditions. Findings from the fourth objective indicated that the BMP system with MF exposure exhibited a contaminant removal rate of over 80% and a biogas generation of 1715 ml/day with a 99.94% methane composition. Overall, the system that included both MF and MNP performed better than the other in terms of biogas yield and colour removal. The final objective was the kinetic study of the anaerobic magnetised system using modified Gompertz and first-order kinetic models. The results obtained from the kinetics showed that the modified Gompertz model described the kinetics and dynamics of the anaerobic magnetised system better than the firstorder kinetic model with a correlation co-efficient (R2 ) over 0.9999 and an error less than 0.0002. Therefore, the possibility of using MNPs, particularly magnetite (Fe3O4), in an AD system for biogas production from wastewater was found to be extremely feasible and without negative environmental consequences. Incorporating both MF and MNP in AD was also beneficial for wastewater treatment because it eliminated the need for post-treatment.