Energy is fundamental to the quality of life in the earth. Meeting the growing demand for energy sustainably is one of the major challenges of the 21st century. Indonesia is a developing country and ...the world's fourth most populous nation. Total annual energy consumption increased from 300,147
GWh in 1980, 625,500
GWh in 1990, 1,123,928 in 2000 and to 1,490,892 in 2009 at an average annual increase of 2.9%. Presently, fossil-fuel-based energies are the major sources of energy in Indonesia. During the last 12 years, Indonesia has recorded the most severe reduction in fossil fuel supplies in the entire Asia-Pacific region. This reduction has stimulated promoting the usage of renewable energy resources capable of simultaneously balancing economic and social development with environmental protection. Biodiesel is an alternative and environmentally friendly fuel that will participate in increasing renewable energy supply.
Jatropha curcas is one of biodiesel resources that offer immediate and sustained greenhouse gas advantages over other biodiesel resources. Globally,
J. curcas has created an interest for researchers because it is non-edible oil, does not create a food versus fuel conflict and can be used to produce biodiesel with same or better performance results when testing in diesel engines.
The present study is concerned with the prospect of biodiesel produced from
J. curcas in Indonesia. The first part gives a summary and overview of energy resources and consumption in the country, second part discusses the potential of biodiesel as a powerful renewable energy resource and third part investigates the potential of
J. curcas as a feedstock for biodiesel in Indonesia. The final part discusses the development of biodiesel market in Indonesia. The paper found out that the production of biodiesel from
J. curcas offers many social, economical and environmental benefits for the country and can play a great role to solve the problem of energy crisis in Indonesia.
This study presents an innovative approach utilizing Artificial Neural Network (ANN) strategies to evaluate the energy absorption capabilities of eco‐friendly rubber crumb/kenaf composites subjected ...to low‐velocity impact loads. The primary objectives of this research were to assess the energy absorption characteristics of these sustainable composites, understand their mechanical behavior under the impact, and provide valuable insights into their potential applications. To achieve these objectives, an experimental methodology was employed. Rubber crumb/kenaf composites with varying compositions were prepared, and low‐velocity impact tests were conducted using a drop‐weight impact testing apparatus to assess their energy absorption behavior and these parameters were used as inputs for training the ANN models. The weight percentage of waste tire rubber particle (WTRP), type of impactor and impact energies are considered as input data, whereas the absorbed energy is treated as the output. Through the advanced ANN strategies, accurate predictions of energy absorption performance were achieved for the rubber crumb/kenaf composites. The Levenberg–Marquardt optimisation algorithm with ten neurons and a tangent sigmoid activation function is used to train the ANN model. The trained ANN model is tested on an unseen dataset, different from the training data. It is shown to accurately predict the energy absorption characteristics of WTRP/KRE composites with a maximum error of 4.54%. The results revealed that the composite's energy absorption capabilities were influenced by the ratio of rubber crumb to kenaf, as well as the impact velocity. Additionally, the ANN models demonstrated excellent predictive capabilities, enabling efficient estimation of energy absorption behavior. The significance of these results lies in the potential applications of eco‐friendly rubber crumb/kenaf composites. By understanding their energy absorption characteristics, these composites can be effectively utilized in various industries. For instance, they could be employed in automotive parts manufacturing to enhance occupant safety during low‐velocity impact events. Furthermore, these composites can find applications in sports equipment, protective gear, and other impact‐prone products, contributing to sustainable and environmentally friendly materials. It is believed that by adopting the proposed ANN methodology, the experimentation costs and time can be significantly reduced without compromising the accuracy of the results. The obtained results provide valuable insights into the mechanical behavior of these sustainable composites and open avenues for their implementation in diverse industries where impact resistance is crucial
Highlights
Development of sustainable Rubber crumb/kenaf composites
Application of advanced ANN based predictive assessment of the impact response
Parametric study of impactor shape and height of impact is performed
The damage mechanism contributing to energy absorption is micrographically studied
Experimental‐ANN based energy absorption prediction methodology
This paper reports the results of an extensive experimental investigation on the behavior of shear-deficient reinforced circular RC columns under lateral impact loading. First, it provides a brief ...literature review on studies of the dynamic response induced by vehicle collisions on RC columns highlighting the lack of experimental tests on vertical elements. In this context, a novel facility for testing of vertical elements under lateral impact loading was realized. Two different types of RC columns characterized by different hoop spacing were tested, representing a one-third scaled model of a reinforced circular bridge pier, designed with obsolete design practice with particular reference to non-seismic areas. A total of 10 specimens (5 for each type) were tested under a lateral rigid-hammer impact at different impact velocities (2.25, 3 and 4.5 m/s) and boundary conditions (cantilever and fixed-simply-supported). The impact load was applied at the typical vehicular impact location, i.e. near the base. A description of the impact and reaction forces, of the lateral displacements and accelerations, of the damage development and of the post-impact damage is given. The dynamic response and the observed damage are found to be significantly affected by the column type, the impact velocity and the boundary condition. A brittle shear-type damage was observed, characterized by one main diagonal crack originating from the base of the column to the impact point, revealing the high vulnerability of these structural elements.
Background, aim and scope
In 2005, a comprehensive comparison of life cycle impact assessment toxicity characterisation models was initiated by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)–Society ...for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Life Cycle Initiative, directly involving the model developers of CalTOX, IMPACT 2002, USES-LCA, BETR, EDIP, WATSON and EcoSense. In this paper, we describe this model comparison process and its results—in particular the scientific consensus model developed by the model developers. The main objectives of this effort were (1) to identify specific sources of differences between the models’ results and structure, (2) to detect the indispensable model components and (3) to build a scientific consensus model from them, representing recommended practice.
Materials and methods
A chemical test set of 45 organics covering a wide range of property combinations was selected for this purpose. All models used this set. In three workshops, the model comparison participants identified key fate, exposure and effect issues via comparison of the final characterisation factors and selected intermediate outputs for fate, human exposure and toxic effects for the test set applied to all models.
Results
Through this process, we were able to reduce inter-model variation from an initial range of up to 13 orders of magnitude down to no more than two orders of magnitude for any substance. This led to the development of USEtox, a scientific consensus model that contains only the most influential model elements. These were, for example, process formulations accounting for intermittent rain, defining a closed or open system environment or nesting an urban box in a continental box.
Discussion
The precision of the new characterisation factors (CFs) is within a factor of 100–1,000 for human health and 10–100 for freshwater ecotoxicity of all other models compared to 12 orders of magnitude variation between the CFs of each model, respectively. The achieved reduction of inter-model variability by up to 11 orders of magnitude is a significant improvement.
Conclusions
USEtox provides a parsimonious and transparent tool for human health and ecosystem CF estimates. Based on a referenced database, it has now been used to calculate CFs for several thousand substances and forms the basis of the recommendations from UNEP-SETAC’s Life Cycle Initiative regarding characterisation of toxic impacts in life cycle assessment.
Recommendations and perspectives
We provide both recommended and interim (not recommended and to be used with caution) characterisation factors for human health and freshwater ecotoxicity impacts. After a process of consensus building among stakeholders on a broad scale as well as several improvements regarding a wider and easier applicability of the model, USEtox will become available to practitioners for the calculation of further CFs.
•Definition of a relatively long beam in impact behavior.•Effect of plastic hinge on the impact behavior.•Effect of boundary condition on the impact behavior.
This study numerically investigates the ...effect of the plastic hinge and boundary conditions on the behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) beams under slow-impact-velocity events. Numerical models are developed by using LS-Dyna and verified against experimental results. The effect of different factors including the impact velocity, projectile weight, and concrete strength on the impact behavior of RC beams is examined. The numerical results have shown that the effect of boundary condition is marginal on the impact force but significant on the displacement and damage of relatively long beams. Determining the structural stiffness of a beam in an equivalent single degree of freedom model for predicting the impact load should consider the plastic hinge formation and stationary location. And this model is not necessarily suitable for predicting the peak beam response since it is independent of the boundary conditions when the impact velocity is fast. The negative bending moment of the simply-supported beam occurs with a large magnitude which needs to be taken into account in the design. The residual displacement is more sensitive to the boundary conditions than the peak displacement. Varying concrete strength from 20MPa to 100MPa does not noticeably change the impact force and displacement but significantly affects the failure mode of the beam.
The structural properties of braided composite laminates are significantly affected by the low‐velocity impact (LVI). In this paper, the impact resistance and damage tolerance of triaxial braid ...structure laminates at different positions were mainly studied. Three hybrid biaxial (B)/triaxial (T) braided composite structures of BBTT, BTTB, and TTBB were designed, and LVI test and post‐impact compression tests were carried out. The results show that the triaxial braided fabric with quasi‐isotropic on the impact side caused more significant matrix cracks along the axis yarn direction, and the matrix damage area and delamination area were larger. For triaxial braided ply with high curl levels, severe fiber fracture and relatively concentrated damage occurred first on the non‐impact side. Interestingly, triaxial braided fabrics exhibited better impact resistance in terms of mechanical response when distributed across the specimen surface. However, a global damage pattern appears at high energy levels, which seriously reduced the residual strength of the structure and showed the worst damage tolerance. The damage quantification analysis of cracks, dent depths, delamination and residual compressive strength caused by the LVI of hybrid shaft number braided laminates was carried out in this work, which provided a valuable reference for engineering failure analysis and rational structure optimization of composite laminates.
The impact resistance and damage tolerance of triaxial braid structure laminates at different positions were mainly studied. At medium and high energy levels, the stacking sequence had a great influence on the mechanical properties, the damaged delamination projection area and the residual compressive strength of the braided laminates.
Measurement of the likely magnitude of the economic impact of climate change on African agriculture has been a challenge. Using data from a survey of more than 9,000 farmers across 11 African ...countries, a cross-sectional approach estimates how farm net revenues are affected by climate change compared with current mean temperature. Revenues fall with warming for dryland crops (temperature elasticity of −1.9) and livestock (−5.4), whereas revenues rise for irrigated crops (elasticity of 0.5), which are located in relatively cool parts of Africa and are buffered by irrigation from the effects of warming. At first, warming has little net aggregate effect as the gains for irrigated crops offset the losses for dryland crops and livestock. Warming, however, will likely reduce dryland farm income immedia-tely. The final effects will also depend on changes in precipitation, because revenues from all farm types increase with precipitation. Because irrigated farms are less sensitive to climate, where water is available, irrigation is a practical adaptation to climate change in Africa.
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) systems are under pressure in many countries, driven by a call for efficiency and streamlining. Such a phenomenon is particularly clear in Brazil, where, in the ...past few years, a number of influential associations put forward documents proposing significant changes to environmental licensing and impact assessment regulations. So far, there is no publicly available information about any initiative towards scrutinizing those proposals. The objective of this study was to critically review the merits and drawbacks of the changes proposed in those documents. The analysis triangulated content analysis, focus group and online survey data. The focus group included ten seasoned Brazilian EIA specialists; the survey, based on Likert-scale and open-ended questions, resulted in 322 valid responses from EIA professionals. Results show that the proposals generally agree that the current EIA system, while playing a key role in mitigating impacts and enhancing project design, needs many changes. Nonetheless, the proposals neither offered solutions to overcome political, technical and budget barriers, nor established a sense of priority of the most urgent issues. Findings from the focus group and the survey signaled that a number of proposed actions might face public outcry, and that those changes that do not depend on legislative action are more likely to be implementable. Previous studies about EIA reform focused mostly on the context of developed countries after changes had taken place. This study, while addressing the perspective of a large developing country in a “before-reform” stage, shows that capacity-building is a key requirement in EIA reform.
•Brazil's EIA system is under strong pressure for change.•Findings corroborate ineffectiveness in current system.•There are tensions as to the best approaches to overcome problems.•Exact effects of proposals are uncertain.•Low institutional capacity can play strong role in driving EIA reform.
Kamil crater (Egypt) is a natural laboratory for the study of processes and products associated with the impacts of small iron projectiles on the Earth’s crust. In particular, because of the ...distinctive composition of the impactor (an ungrouped Ni-rich ataxite) and the target (Cretaceous sandstones and minor wackes) it offers a unique opportunity to study impactor–target physical–chemical interactions. Continuing the study of impact melt ejecta, we investigated the mineralogy and geochemistry of 25 Fe-Ni spherules - representative of a suite of 135 - recovered from the soil around the crater. Samples were collected during our 2010 geophysical expedition and investigated by combining scanning electron microscope imaging, electron probe microanalyzer and Raman spectroscopy analyses. Spherules range in size from 100 to 500 µm and show a variety of dendritic textures and mineral compositions dominated by Fe-Ni oxides of the wüstite – bunsenite and magnetite – trevorite series or Fe-Ni metal. All these features indicate quenching of high temperature (1600–1500 °C) oxide or metal liquid droplets under varying oxidizing conditions. A geochemical affinity with the iron impactor recorded by the Fe, Co, Ni ratios in the constituent phases (average Ni/Co element ratio of 25.1 ± 7.6; average Ni/(Ni + Fe) molar ratio of 0.21 ± 0.13), combined with target contamination (i.e., the ubiquitous occurrence of Si and Al from trace to minor amounts), document their origin as impact melt spherules formed through the physical and chemical interaction between metal projectile and silicate target melts and air. We propose a petrogenetic model that envisions formation as liquid droplet residues of immiscible projectile in a mixed silicate melt and their subsequent separation as individual spherules by stripping during hypervelocity ejection. We also argue that this model applies to all impact events produced by small iron projectiles and that such individual Fe-Ni oxide and metal spherules should be common impact products, despite little documentation in the literature. Our detailed mineralogical and geochemical characterization will facilitate their distinction from other, similar spherules of different origin (cosmic spherules, ablation spherules) often encountered in the geologic record.
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