Results
- Showing results for:
- Reset all filters
Search results
-
Journal articleZhou Z, Liu X, Li C, et al., 2020,
Seawater-assisted synthesis of MnCe/zeolite-13X for removing elemental mercury from coal-fired flue gas
, Fuel, Vol: 262, ISSN: 0016-2361To develop an efficient and low-cost sorbent for removing elemental mercury (Hg<sup>0</sup>) from chlorine-free coal-fired flue gas, the Na-13X zeolite (Z13X) was modified by the natural seawater and MnOx-CeO<inf>2</inf>. The elemental mercury removal activity over the developed sorbents was tested under a simulated coal-fired flue gas on a lab-scale fixed bed reactor. The novel sorbents were characterized by XRF, XRD, XPS, nitrogen adsorption and Hg-TPD. For the seawater-modified Z13X samples, the Cl species in the seawater were the main active species for Hg<sup>0</sup> removal. The optimal reaction temperature was in the range of 250–350 °C. For the seawater- and MnCe oxides- comodified sorbents, the experimental results suggested that the Cl species in the seawater and the loaded metal oxides were responsible for the superior Hg<sup>0</sup> capture activity. For the seawater modified sorbents, the best Hg<sup>0</sup> capture activity could be achieved with loading only 1 wt% metal oxides on the Z13X. The elemental mercury removal activity tests showed that the co-modified sorbents exhibited superior and stable elemental mercury removal efficiency (>95%) for temperatures between 200 °C and 350 °C and with a flow rate-to-mass value of 2 × 10<sup>5</sup> mL/(h·g). Based on the XPS results of the surface Cl, O and metals species, the active chlorine species generated from the reactions between the adsorbed seawater chlorine and the metal oxides were responsible for enhancing the performance.
-
Working paperKonstantinoudis G, Schuhmacher D, Rue H, et al., 2020,
Discrete versus continuous domain models for disease mapping
, Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD- Cite
- Citations: 12
-
Journal articleEscudero-Escribano M, Biegel CM, Kamat PV, 2020,
Women Scientists at the Forefront of Energy Research: A Virtual Issue, Part 2
, ACS ENERGY LETTERS, Vol: 5, Pages: 623-633, ISSN: 2380-8195- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 3
-
ReportCeppi P, Gregory J, 2020,
Climate sensitivity: What is it, and why is it important?
, Climate sensitivity: What is it, and why is it important?, Publisher: The Grantham Institute, 11Climate sensitivity is a fundamental measure of global climate change. This briefing paper explains how climate sensitivity is estimated from different lines of evidence – modelling, observations, and palaeoclimate records – and why its exact value remains uncertain.
-
Journal articleParks RM, Bennett JE, Tamura-Wicks H, et al., 2020,
Anomalously warm temperatures are associated with increased injury deaths
, Nature Medicine, Vol: 26, Pages: 65-70, ISSN: 1078-8956Temperatures which deviate from long-term local norm affect human health, and are projected to become more frequent as the global climate changes.1 There is limited data on how such anomalies affect deaths from injuries. Here, we used data on mortality and temperature over 38 years (1980-2017) in the contiguous USA and formulated a Bayesian spatio-temporal model to quantify how anomalous temperatures, defined as deviations of monthly temperature from the local average monthly temperature over the entire analysis period, affect deaths from unintentional (transport, falls and drownings) and intentional (assault and suicide) injuries, by age group and sex. We found that a 1.5°C anomalously warm year, as envisioned under the Paris Climate Agreement,2 would be associated with an estimated 1,601 (95% credible interval 1,430-37 1,776) additional injury deaths. 84% of these additional deaths would occur in males, mostly in adolescent to middle ages. These deaths would comprise of increases in deaths 39 from drownings, transport, assault and suicide, offset partly by a decline in deaths from falls in older ages. The findings demonstrate the need for targeted interventions against injuries during periods of anomalously high temperatures, especially as these episodes are likely to increase with global climate change.
-
Journal articleOluleye G, 2020,
A novel optimisation framework to support increased uptake of low carbon industrial energy systems
, Chemical Engineering Transactions, Vol: 81, Pages: 1063-1068, ISSN: 1974-9791© 2020 Italian Association of Chemical Engineering - AIDIC. All rights reserved. Combustion of fossil fuels in industrial energy systems (IES) is responsible for over 45 % of CO2 emissions. Low Carbon IES will go a long way in achieving the climate goal of the Paris Agreement; yet, uptake of concepts to deliver low carbon IES is slow. Cost and emissions minimisation based optimisation frameworks applied to design and assess IES, though important, are not able to directly quantify the uptake of new technologies to deliver low carbon IES in a country or region. This work presents a novel MINLP framework capable of directly maximing the adoption of low carbon IES within a country and region whilst determining the optimal energy flows and associate costs. The method is applied to a case stufy of 6,181 energy systems in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) in 27 EU countries to support increased adoption of technology switching (from combustion to electrochemistry), and fuel switching (from natural gas to biogas). Results show that without policy interventions uptake of these measures is only in 0.2 % of the plants located in Denmark, with policy intervention uptake increases to 60 % in more countries. The novel framework shows how the uptake of a new cleaner technology in a country or region can be accelerated.
-
Journal articleChasapis CT, Konstantinoudis G, 2020,
Protein isoelectric point distribution in the interactomes across the domains of life
, BIOPHYSICAL CHEMISTRY, Vol: 256, ISSN: 0301-4622- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 11
-
Journal articleBelghachem N, Mahfoudia O, Bensalah N, et al., 2020,
Performance analysis of spread spectrum techniques for laser remote sensing multiple-input multiple-output systems
, OPTICAL ENGINEERING, Vol: 59, ISSN: 0091-3286- Cite
- Citations: 1
-
Journal articlePhillipson L, Toumi R, 2019,
Assimilation of satellite salinity for modelling the Congo River plume
, Remote Sensing, Vol: 12, Pages: 1-20, ISSN: 2072-4292Abstract:Satellite salinity data from the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission was recently enhanced, increasing the spatial extent near the coast that eluded earlier versions. In a pilot attempt we assimilate this data into a coastal ocean model (ROMS) using variational assimilation and for the first time, investigate the impact on the simulation of a major river plume (the Congo River). Four experiments were undertaken consisting of a control (without data assimilation) and5the assimilation of either sea surface height, SMOS and the combination of both. Several metrics specific to the plume were utilised, including the area of the plume, distance to the centre of mass, orientation and average salinity. The assimilation of SMOS and SMOS-SSH consistently produced the best results in the plume analysis. Argo float salinity profiles provided independent verification of the forecast. The SMOS or SMOS-SSH forecast produced the closest agreement for Argo profiles over the whole domain (outside and inside the plume) for three of four months analysed, improving over the control and a persistence baseline. The number of samples of Argo floats determined to be inside the plume were limited. Nevertheless, for the limited plume-detected floats the largest improvements were found for the SMOS or SMOS-SSH forecast for two of the four months.
-
Journal articleZhang Y, Takahashi Y, Hong SP, et al., 2019,
High-resolution label-free 3D mapping of extracellular pH of single living cells
, Nature Communications, Vol: 10, Pages: 1-9, ISSN: 2041-1723Dynamic mapping of extracellular pH (pHe) at the single-cell level is critical for understanding the role of H+ in cellular and subcellular processes, with particular importance in cancer. While several pHe sensing techniques have been developed, accessing this information at the single-cell level requires improvement in sensitivity, spatial and temporal resolution. We report on a zwitterionic label-free pH nanoprobe that addresses these long-standing challenges. The probe has a sensitivity >0.01 units, 2 ms response time, and 50 nm spatial resolution. The technology was incorporated into a double-barrel nanoprobe integrating pH sensing with feedback-controlled distance sensing via Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy. This allows for the simultaneous 3D topographical imaging and pHe monitoring of living cancer cells. These classes of nanoprobes were used for real-time high spatiotemporal resolution pHe mapping at the subcellular level and revealed tumour heterogeneity of the peri-cellular environments of melanoma and breast cancer cells.
-
ReportShrimali G, Agarwal N, Donovan C, 2019,
Drivers in solar deployment in India: A state-level analysis
, Drivers in solar deployment in India: A state-level analysis, http://www.imperial.ac.uk/grantham, Publisher: The Grantham InstituteThis report considers the drivers of inter-state solar power deployment in India, and what mix of policies are most appropriate to help India reachits ambitious solar power targets
-
Journal articleHwang J, Feng Z, Charles N, et al., 2019,
Tuning perovskite oxides by strain: Electronic structure, properties, and functions in (electro)catalysis and ferroelectricity
, MATERIALS TODAY, Vol: 31, Pages: 100-118, ISSN: 1369-7021- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 239
-
Journal articleSparks N, Hon KK, Chan PW, et al., 2019,
Aircraft observations of tropical cyclone boundary layer turbulence over the South China Sea
, Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol: 76, Pages: 3773-3783, ISSN: 0022-4928There have been no high-frequency aircraft observations of tropical cyclone (TC) eyewall boundary layer turbulence since two flights into Atlantic hurricanes in the 1980s. We present an analysis of the first TC boundary layer flight observations in the South China Sea by the Hong Kong Observatory comprising four eyewall penetrations. We derive the vertical flux of momentum and vertical momentum diffusivity from observed turbulence parameters. We observe negative (upward) vertical fluxes of tangential momentum near the eyewall consistent with a jet below the flight level near the radius of maximum wind. Our observations of vertical momentum diffusivity support a superlinear relationship between diffusivity and wind speed at the high wind speeds in the inner-core of TCs (power-law exponent of 1.73 ± 0.20) while the few existing boundary layer hurricane observations in the North Atlantic suggest a more linear relationship.
-
Journal articleKirby ME, Bullen JC, Hanif MD, et al., 2019,
Determining the effect of pH on iron oxidation kinetics in aquatic environments: exploring a fundamental chemical reaction to grasp the significant ecosystem implications of iron bioavailability
, Journal of Chemical Education, Vol: 97, Pages: 215-220, ISSN: 0021-9584Understanding the controls of the oxidation rate of iron (Fe) in oxygenated aquatic systems is fundamental for students of the Earth and Environmental Sciences as it defines the bioavailability of Fe, a trace metal essential for life. The laboratory experiment presented here was successfully developed and used during a third-year undergraduate lab course at Imperial College London for several years. It employs ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy calibrated externally with 0 to 50 μM Fe2+ standards created in a 492 μM ferrozine and 0.43 M acetate matrix. The students conducted the oxidation experiments in stirred batch reactors at equilibrium with atmospheric oxygen. The solution contained 40.5 μM initial Fe2+ concentration and a 5.1 mM imidazole buffer. The pH was adjusted to values between 7.22 and 7.77. The students observed a pseudo-first-order reaction with respect to Fe2+ concentration. Plotting the logarithms of the apparent rate constants (k′) at different pH values leads to a gradient of 2.2 ± 0.2 min–1 pH–1, indicating a second-order reaction with respect to OH– concentration, in agreement with published literature. The oxidation reaction occurred rapidly (tens of seconds to tens of minutes) indicating that in oxygenated aquatic systems, Fe3+ will be the dominant oxidation state, significantly reducing the bioavailability of Fe. The simple laboratory experiment presented here allows the students to learn about kinetic parameters for a fundamental chemical reaction. It allows the students to explore the significant implications this has for aquatic ecosystems.
-
ReportVoulvoulis N, Zogheib C, 2019,
Climate change and the human-made water cycle: Implications for the UK water sector
, Climate change and the human-made water cycle: Implications for the UK water sector, www.imperial.ac.uk/grantham, Publisher: The Grantham Institute, Briefing paper number 32Climate change is already happening, and the UK’s climate will continue to change as a result of greenhouse gas emissions, with the long-term resilience of its infrastructure at risk.The water sector cannot adapt to the challenges of climate change in isolation, as policy effects in one sector will have indirect effects in others.Current demand pressures and reductions in abstraction licences – rights to draw water – are causing supply-demand deficits and this is coupled to the impacts of climate change. If no action is taken, the current high standards of service that is offered at a fair price, and without causing environmental damage, could soon be at risk.While impact on water flows might not yet be measurable, there is evidence to show that if water companies carry on with ‘business as usual’, we risk a future without enough water for people, business, farmers, wildlife and the environment.With water as the key medium that links atmospheric temperature rises to changes in human and physical systems, government, water companies and all the players in the wider sector need to play a more proactive role in accelerating the transition to a circular economy, while helping people, politicians and decision makers to understand and prepare for the risks of climate change.
-
ReportLevey S, Gilbert A, 2019,
Grantham Institute Outlook 2019-2020
, Grantham Institute Outlook 2019-2020, Grantham Institute, Publisher: Grantham Institute, 10The flagship publication of Imperial College London's Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment, which showcases how the institute is tackling the challenges of climate and environmental change.
-
Journal articleLefauve A, Partridge JL, Linden PF, 2019,
Regime transitions and energetics of sustained stratified shear flows
, JOURNAL OF FLUID MECHANICS, Vol: 875, Pages: 657-698, ISSN: 0022-1120- Cite
- Citations: 17
-
Journal articleKim J, Cao XE, Finkelstein JL, et al., 2019,
A two-colour multiplexed lateral flow immunoassay system to differentially detect human malaria species on a single test line.
, Malar J, Vol: 18BACKGROUND: Malaria continues to impose a tremendous burden in terms of global morbidity and mortality, yet even today, a large number of diagnoses are presumptive resulting in lack of or inappropriate treatment. METHODS: In this work, a two-colour lateral flow immunoassay (LFA) system was developed to identify infections by Plasmodium spp. and differentiate Plasmodium falciparum infection from the other three human malaria species (Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium ovale, Plasmodium malariae). To achieve this goal, red and blue colours were encoded to two markers on a single test line of strips, for simultaneous detection of PfHRP2 (red), a marker specific for P. falciparum infection, and pLDH (blue), a pan-specific marker for infections by all species of Plasmodium. The assay performance was first optimized and evaluated with recombinant malarial proteins spiked in washing buffer at various concentrations from 0 to 1000 ng mL-1. The colour profiles developed on the single test line were discriminated and quantified: colour types corresponded to malaria protein species; colour intensities represented protein concentration levels. RESULTS: The limit of detection (the lowest concentrations of malaria antigens that can be distinguished from blank samples) and the limit of colour discrimination (the limit to differentiate pLDH from PfHRP2) were defined for the two-colour assay from the spiked buffer test, and the two limits were 31.2 ng mL-1 and 7.8 ng mL-1, respectively. To further validate the efficacy of the assay, 25 human whole blood frozen samples were tested and successfully validated against ELISA and microscopy results: 15 samples showed malaria negative; 5 samples showed P. falciparum positive; 5 samples showed P. falciparum negative, but contained other malaria species. CONCLUSIONS: The assay provides a simple method to quickly identify and differentiate infection by different malarial parasites at the point-of-need and overcome the
-
Journal articleTiam SK, Lavoie I, Liu F, et al., 2019,
Diatom Deformities and Tolerance to Cadmium Contamination in Four Species
, ENVIRONMENTS, Vol: 6- Cite
- Citations: 7
-
Journal articleSommer G, Schindler M, Redmond S, et al., 2019,
Temporal trends in incidence of childhood cancer in Switzerland, 1985-2014
, CANCER EPIDEMIOLOGY, Vol: 61, Pages: 157-164, ISSN: 1877-7821- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 19
-
Journal articleMezzavilla S, Katayama Y, Rao R, et al., 2019,
Activity-or Lack Thereof-of RuO2-Based Electrodes in the Electrocatalytic Reduction of CO2
, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C, Vol: 123, Pages: 17765-17773, ISSN: 1932-7447 -
Journal articleLiu F, Tan Q-G, Fortin C, et al., 2019,
Why Does Cysteine Enhance Metal Uptake by Phytoplankton in Seawater but Not in Freshwater?
, Environ Sci Technol, Vol: 53, Pages: 6511-6519Low-molecular-weight weak ligands such as cysteine have been shown to enhance metal uptake by marine phytoplankton in the presence of strong ligands, but the effect is not observed in freshwater. We hypothesized that these contrasting results might be caused by local cysteine degradation and a Ca effect on metal-ligand exchange kinetics in the boundary layer surrounding the algal cells; newly liberated free metal ions cannot be immediately complexed in seawater by Ca-bound strong ligands but can be rapidly complexed by free ligands at low-Ca levels. The present results consistently support this hypothesis. At constant bulk Cd2+ concentrations, buffered by strong ligands: (1) at 50 mM Ca, cysteine addition significantly enhanced Cd uptake in high-Ca preacclimated euryhaline Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (cultured with cysteine as a nitrogen source to enhance local Cd2+ liberation via cysteine degradation); (2) at 0.07 mM Ca, this enhancement was not observed in the algae; (3) at 50 mM Ca, the enhancement disappeared when C. reinhardtii were cultured with ammonium (to inhibit cysteine degradation and local Cd2+ liberation); (4) cysteine addition did not enhance Cd uptake by cysteine-cultured marine Thalassiosira weissflogii when the concentration of immediately reacting strong ligands was sufficient to complex local Cd2+ liberation.
-
Journal articlewang S, Toumi R, 2019,
Impact of dry midlevel air on the tropical cyclone outer circulation
, Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, Vol: 76, Pages: 1809-1826, ISSN: 0022-4928The impact of dry midlevel air on the outer circulation of tropical cyclones is investigated in idealized simulations with and without a moist envelope protecting the inner core. It is found that a dry midlevel layer away from the cyclone center can broaden the outer primary circulation and thus the overall destructive potential at both developing and mature stages. The midlevel outer drying enhances the horizontal gradient of latent heating in the rainbands and drives the expansion of the outer circulation. The moist convection at large radii is suppressed rapidly after the midlevel air is dried in the outer rainbands. An enhanced horizontal gradient of latent heating initiates a radial-vertical overturning circulation anomaly in the rainbands. This anomalous overturning circulation accelerates the radial inflow of the main secondary circulation, increases the angular momentum import, and thus increases the cyclone size. The dry air, mixed into the boundary layer from the midtroposphere, is “recharged” by high enthalpy fluxes due to the increased thermodynamical disequilibrium above the sea surface. This “recharge” process protects the eyewall convection from the environmental dry air ventilation. The proposed mechanism may explain the continuous expansion in the tropical cyclone outer circulation after maturity as found in observations.
-
Journal articleZhou Z, Liu X, Xu J, et al., 2019,
Elemental mercury removal over a novel starch-modified MnOx/bentonite composite
, Fuel Processing Technology, Vol: 187, Pages: 16-20, ISSN: 0378-3820To improve the activity of elemental mercury (Hg<sup>0</sup>) removal over the bentonite supported MnO<inf>x</inf> material (MnO<inf>x</inf>/bentonite), a novel starch-modified MnO<inf>x</inf>/bentonite composite (MnO<inf>x</inf>/starch-bentonite) was synthesized for Hg<sup>0</sup> capture. The Hg<sup>0</sup> removal activity tested under the atmosphere of pure N<inf>2</inf> and in the presence of O<inf>2</inf> showed that the MnO<inf>x</inf>/starch-bentonite exhibited better activity and stability than MnO<inf>x</inf>/bentonite. It was evident that the Hg<sup>0</sup> removal efficiency over the novel catalytic sorbent (BS10M2) only declined by 16.9%, while that over MnO<inf>x</inf>/bentonite fell by 68.7% after a 5 h test under the atmosphere of N<inf>2</inf> + 6%O<inf>2</inf> at 120 °C. The starch modification decreased the surface area but enhanced the surface activity of bentonite, and more activate sites were generated on the surface of bentonite after being impregnated with potassium permanganate (KMnO<inf>4</inf>) solution. The improved Hg<sup>0</sup> removal performance was probably due to the generation of more Mn<sup>4+</sup> and the newly introduced ester groups formed by the partial oxidation reaction between starch and KMnO<inf>4</inf> on the support, which played essential roles in mercury catalytic oxidation and adsorption. The MnO<inf>x</inf> were generated in two ways: KMnO<inf>4</inf> decomposition in a neutral solution condition and KMnO<inf>4</inf> reduction by the starch with hydroxyl groups.
-
Journal articlePartridge JL, Lefauve A, Dalziel SB, 2019,
A versatile scanning method for volumetric measurements of velocity and density fields
, MEASUREMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Vol: 30, ISSN: 0957-0233- Cite
- Citations: 23
-
Journal articleWang R, Ongagna-Yhombi SY, Lu Z, et al., 2019,
Rapid Diagnostic Platform for Colorimetric Differential Detection of Dengue and Chikungunya Viral Infections.
, Anal Chem, Vol: 91, Pages: 5415-5423In this work, we demonstrate a rapid diagnostic platform with potential to transform clinical diagnosis of acute febrile illnesses in resource-limited settings. Acute febrile illnesses such as dengue and chikungunya, which pose high burdens of disease in tropical regions, share many nonspecific symptoms and are difficult to diagnose based on clinical history alone in the absence of accessible laboratory diagnostics. Through a unique color-mixing encoding and readout strategy, our platform enabled consistent and accurate multiplexed detection of dengue and chikungunya IgM/IgG antibodies in human clinical samples within 30 min. Our multiplex assay offers several advantages over conventional rapid diagnostic tests deployed in resource-limited settings, including a low sample volume requirement and the ability to concurrently detect four analytes. Our platform is a step toward multiplexed diagnostics that will be transformative for disease management in resource-limited settings by enabling informed treatment decisions through accessible evidence-based diagnosis.
-
Conference paperRao R, Shao-Horn Y, 2019,
Towards understanding the electrified RuO2 water interface for the oxygen evolution reaction
, National Meeting of the American-Chemical-Society (ACS), Publisher: AMER CHEMICAL SOC, ISSN: 0065-7727 -
ReportJennings N, Fecht D, De Matteis S, 2019,
Co-benefits of climate change mitigation in the UK: What issues are the UK public concerned about and how can action on climate change help to address them?
-
ReportParks R, Mclaren M, Toumi R, et al., 2019,
Experiences and lessons in managing water from Cape Town
Water shortages will become more common in cities around the world during the 21st century due to climate change.• Cape Town, South Africa experienced an especially severe drought in 2017-2018 after several years of low rainfall. This drought prompted an estimate of Day Zero, when freshwater reservoir levels supplying the city would fall below 13.5% of capacity and the majority of the municipal water network would be shut down.• In response to this crisis, the City of Cape Town municipal government significantly extended an existing set of rules and regulations, and introduced additional measures, to limit water demand. These actions included restricting available water; new tariffs to penalise excess water usage; water management devices installed in domestic properties; and novel communication strategies.• The water crisis has had widespread economic and social impacts, with damage to the tourist and agriculture industries; and tensions between sections of society and government. • Any city under water stress, like Cape Town, needs a long-term strategy for water supply and demand. Such a strategy should include diversity of water sources, equity of service provisions, thoughtful but forceful messaging, early warning systems and co-operation between local, regional and national levels of government.
-
Journal articleKatayama Y, Nattino F, Giordano L, et al., 2019,
An <i>In Situ</i> Surface-Enhanced Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy Study of Electrochemical CO<sub>2</sub> Reduction: Selectivity Dependence on Surface C-Bound and O-Bound Reaction Intermediates
, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY C, Vol: 123, Pages: 5951-5963, ISSN: 1932-7447- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 229
This data is extracted from the Web of Science and reproduced under a licence from Thomson Reuters. You may not copy or re-distribute this data in whole or in part without the written consent of the Science business of Thomson Reuters.
View publications by:
Topic
Climate Science
Earth and Life Sciences
Energy and Low-Carbon Futures
Resources and Pollution
Economics and Finance
Health
View all publications and browse by year
Publication type
Briefing papers and Briefing notes
Grantham Institute Outlooks
Evidence & submission papers
Infographics
Institute reports and analytics notes
Grantham notes
Collaborative publications
Discussion papers
Institute event overviews
Working papers