CONTENTS
Preface vii
Chapter 1 Solar-Energy-Driven Bioethanol Production from
Carbohydrates for Transportation Applications 1
Betina Tabah, Indra Neel Pulidindi,
Venkateswara Rao Chitturi,
Leela Mohana Reddy Arava
and Aharon Gedanken
Chapter 2 PV Panel Modeling and Identification 67
Li Hong Idris Lim, Zhen Ye, Dazhi Yang
and Han Chong Shaun Tay
Chapter 3 Statistical Modeling, Parameter Estimation
and Measurement Planning for PV Degradation 123
Dazhi Yang, Licheng Liu,
Carlos David Rodríguez-Gallegos,
Zhen Ye and Li Hong Idris Lim
Chapter 4 Comparison for Policy and Promotion Strategy
of Solar Energy Developments between
Taiwan and Japan 151
Tzu-Yi Pai, Keisuke Hanaki, Yi-Ti Tung
and Pei-Yu Wang
Chapter 5 The Future of Organic Solar Energy
Harvesting Complexes 165
Julie L. H. Kho, Margaux Airey
and M. Cather Simpson
Index 197
PREFACE
Indiscriminate extraction and increasing consumption of fossil fuel
resources (crude oil, natural gas, and coal) are adversely affecting the major
spheres of human activity. With the depletion of these fuels, efforts are being
directed to the use of renewable sources such as solar, wind, and biomass. This
book provides new research on the systems, performance and recent
developments in solar energy.
As explained in Chapter 1, one of the best alternatives to petroleum, the
production of bioethanol has increased since 1990, with a sharp increase from
the year 2000 onwards. Bioethanol also offers an attractive alternative as a fuel
in low-temperature fuel cells, as it can be produced in large quantities from
agricultural waste and biomass. Currently, global ethanol is produced mainly
from sugar and starch feedstock. Successful utilization of solar energy which is
renewable, abundant, and inexpensive, for bioethanol production from biomass,
has the potential to solve the fuel shortage problem. Solar energy provides an
important alternative energy source, even if only a portion of this energy is
harnessed for heating applications. The authors work focuses on using solar
thermal energy for bioreaction leading to ethanol production. A solar reactor was
developed to perform the conversion of starch (in a batch process) and glucose
(in a continuous flow system) to bioethanol by heating the reactor using solar
irradiation. Aqueous starch solution (5 wt%) was charged into the reactor bed
loaded with baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and enzymes, resulting in
the conversion of starch into ethanol in a single-step process, yielding 0.5 M, 25
mL ethanol/day. A significant amount of ethanol corresponding to 84% of the
theoretical yield was obtained after two months. The process was scaled up to 15
wt% starch, producing 1.3 M ethanol, which was demonstrated as a potential
and sustainable fuel for direct ethanol fuel cells (DEFCs) (310 mAmgPt-1, 0.75
viii Joel G. Carter
V). Additionally, the secondary metabolite glycerol was fully reduced to 1,3-
propanediol, which is the first example of a fungal strain that converts glycerol
in situ to a value-added product. The batch process of bioethanol production was
further developed to a continuous-flow process. When aqueous glucose
solutions of 10, 20, 30, and 40 wt% were fed into the reactor, high ethanol yields
(91, 86, 89, and 88% of the theoretical yield, respectively) were obtained,
indicating the atom efficiency of the process. No loss was observed in the
activity of the yeast even after two months of continuous operation of the
process. The ethanol produced from 20 wt% glucose feed (2 M) was
demonstrated as a potential fuel for DEFCs with current and power density
values as high as 700 mA/cm2 and 330 mW/cm2 at a modest open circuit voltage
of 1.65 V. Productive utilization of solar energy for driving the fermentation
reaction as well as the special design of the reactor that facilitates in situ
separation of ethanol from the fermentation broth, make the current process
economically feasible and environmentally friendly, and therefore industrially
appealing and adoptable.
In Chapter 2, the modelling techniques of PV panels from I-V
characteristics are discussed. At the beginning, a necessary review on the
various methods are presented, where difficulties in mathematics, drawbacks
in accuracy, and challenges in implementation are highlighted. Next, a novel
approach based on linear system identification is demonstrated in detail. Other
than the prevailing methods of using approximation (analytical methods),
iterative searching (classical optimization), or soft computing (artificial
intelligence), the proposed method regards the PV diode model as the
equivalent output of a dynamic system, so the diode model parameters can be
linked to the transfer function coefficients of the same dynamic system. In this
way, the problem of solving PV model parameters is equivalently converted to
system identification in control theory, which can be perfectly solved by a
simple integral-based linear least square method. Graphical meanings of the
proposed method are illustrated to help readers understand the underlying
principles. As compared to other methods, the proposed one has the following
benefits: 1) unique solution; 2) no iterative or global searching; 3) easy to
implement (linear least square); 4) accuracy; 5) extendable to multi-diode
models. The effectiveness of the proposed method has been verified by indoor
and outdoor PV module testing results. In addition, possible applications of the
proposed method are discussed like online PV monitoring and diagnostics,
non-contact measurement of POA irradiance and cell temperature, fast model
identification for satellite PV panels, and etc.
Preface ix
As shown in Chapter 3, photovoltaics (PV) degradation is a key
consideration during PV performance evaluation. Accurately predicting power
delivery over the course of lifetime of PV is vital to manufacturers and system
owners. With many systems exceeding 20 years of operation worldwide,
degradation rates have been reported abundantly in the recent years. PV
degradation is a complex function of a variety of factors, including but not
limited to climate, manufacturer, technology and installation skill. As a result,
it is difficult to determine degradation rate by analytical modeling; it has to be
measured. As one set of degradation measurements based on a single sample
cannot represent the population nor be used to estimate the true degradation of
a particular PV technology, repeated measures through multiple samples are
essential.
In Chapter 3, linear mixed effects model (LMM) is introduced to analyze
longitudinal degradation data. The framework herein introduced aims to
address three issues: 1) how to model the difference in degradation observed in
PV modules/systems of a same technology that are installed at a shared
location; 2) how to estimate the degradation rate and quantiles based on the
data; and 3) how to effectively and efficiently plan degradation measurements.
Solar power is always the ultimate energy source on earth. Solar energy does
not drive the hydrologic cycle and wind, but also produces biomass including
ancient fossil fuels and present foods. Solar energy is one of the potential
renewable energy and has been actively promoted by many countries.
In Chapter 4, the policy and promotion strategy of solar energy
developments between Taiwan and Japan were surveyed and compared. The
results showed that the solar power increased significantly in the past ten
years. The cumulative capacity of solar energy (CCSE), solar power
generation (SPG), and the ratio of SPG to total power generation for Taiwan in
2014 gave on 615.2, 533.1, and 466.2 times than those in 2005. The CCSE,
SPG, and the ratio of SPG to TPG for Japan in 2014 gave on 16.5, 16.4, and
17.6 times than those in 2005. Besides, an analytic hierarchy process (AHP)
structure was proposed for decision makers to make decisions to prioritize and
select policy and promotion strategy of solar energy developments. Taiwan
and Japan have launched solar PV R&D in the 1980s and 1970s, respectively.
In the early 2000s, Taiwan enacted the RED Act and rewarded the solar power
generation system invested by folk investment to increase the use of renewable
energy. Japan enacted the RPS Law and Feed-in Tariffs policy towards the
aim of promoting the new energy electricity. Recent advances in solar
harvesting technology are transforming the renewable energy landscape.
Despite the plunging cost of silicon and the ground-breaking efficiencies of
x Joel G. Carter
new perovskite materials, research into “traditional” biomimetic, organic solar
energy harvesting complexes remains important for the future success of solar
energy.
In Chapter 5 the authors discuss recent findings from studies of molecular
donor-acceptor complexes that show promise as the active light harvesting
components in organic solar energy systems. In particular, they focus upon
self-assembled and covalent complexes of porphyrins (and related molecules)
and fullerenes as facile electron transfer partners, and highlight several new
results. Finally, the authors discuss the role these types of “soft” organic-based
materials play in the solar energy marketplace, and explore how that role is
likely to change in the future.
