Dr. Tianbiao He

Dr. Tianbiao He

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publications

Black hole-inspired optimal design of biomethane liquefaction process for small-scale applications

Published in Frontiers in Energy Research, 2021

Biomethane is regarded as a promising renewable energy source, with great potential to satisfy the growth of energy demands and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Liquefaction is a suitable approach for long distances and overseas transportation of biomethane; however, it is energy-intensive due to its cryogenic working condition. The major challenge is to design a high-energy efficiency liquefaction process with simple operation and configuration. A single mixed refrigerant biomethane liquefaction process adopting the cryogenic liquid turbine for smallscale production has been proposed in this study to address this issue. The optimal design corresponding to minimal energy consumption was obtained through the black-hole-based optimization algorithm. The effect of the minimum internal temperature approach (MITA) in the main cryogenic heat exchanger on the biomethane liquefaction process performance was investigated. The study results indicated that the specific energy consumption of modified case 2 with MITA of 2◦C was 0.3228 kWh/kg with 21.01% reduction compared to the published base case. When the MITA decreased to 1◦C, the specific power of modified case 1 reduced to 0.3162 kWh/kg, which was 24.96% lower than the base case. In terms of exergy analysis, the total exergy destruction of the modified cases 1, 2, and 3 was 31.28%, 22.27%, and 17.51% lower than the base case, respectively. This study’s findings suggested that introducing the cryogenic liquid turbine to the single mixed refrigerant-based biomethane liquefaction process could reduce the specific energy consumption and total exergy destruction significantly. Therefore, this study could provide a viable path for designing and improving the small-scale biomethane liquefaction process.

Recommended citation: Tianbiao He, Muhammad Abdul Qyyum, Zhongming Zhou, Ashfaq Ahmad, Mohammad Rehan, Abdul-Sattar Nizami, Moonyong Lee. (2021). "Black hole-inspired optimal design of biomethane liquefaction process for small-scale applications." Frontiers in Energy Research.9, 100. http://tianbiaohe.github.io/files/black_2021.pdf

Progress and prospect of hydrate-based desalination technology

Published in Frontiers in Energy, 2021

With the continuous growth of the population and the improvement of production, the shortage of freshwater has plagued many countries. The use of novel technologies such as desalination to produce fresh water on a large scale has become inevitable in the world. Hydrate-based desalination (HBD) technology has drawn an increasing amount of attention due to its mild operation condition and environmental friendliness. In this paper, literature on hydrate-based desalination is comprehensively analyzed and critically evaluated, focuses on experimental progress in different hydrate formers that have an impact on thermodynamics and dynamics in hydrate formation. Besides, various porous media promotion is investigated. Besides, the hydrate formation morphology and hydrate crystal structure with different hydrate formers are analyzed and compared. Moreover, molecular dynamic simulation is discussed to further understand microscopic information of hydrate formation. Furthermore, simulations of the HBD process by considering the energy consumption are also investigated. In conclusion, the hydrated based desalination is a potential technology to get fresh water in a sustainable way.

Recommended citation: Jibao Zhang, Shujun Chen, Ning Mao, Tianbiao He. (2021). "Progress and prospect of hydrate-based desalination technology." Frontiers in Energy.1-15. http://tianbiaohe.github.io/files/progress_2021.pdf

Organic Rankine cycle integrated with hydrate-based desalination for a sustainable energy–water nexus system

Published in Applied Energy, 2021

Clathrate hydrate-based desalination (HyDesal) is a promising desalination technology but it is energy intensive. Developing strategies to reduce the high energy consumption of HyDesal process is necessary for its industrial application. The need for refrigeration requirement for the operation of HyDesal can be offset by LNG cold exergy to reduce its energy consumption. However, the LNG cold exergy utilization efficiency is low due to the large temperature difference between LNG and seawater and hydrate former. In this work, we propose a sustainable process that integrates HyDesal and organic Rankine cycle by utilizing LNG cold exergy to generate fresh water and electricity simultaneously. This integrated process was optimized by adopting particle swarm optimization algorithm to achieve maximal power and fresh water generation. Further, an economic analysis was performed to compare the economic performance of the proposed system and the base case. The results showed that the proposed process could achieve zero specific energy consumption for desalination and generate extra power. The largest fresh water production and power generation of 165.3 tonne/h and 3480 kW were achieved by adopting cyclopentane as hydrate former and mixed working fluid in organic Rankine cycle based on 100 tonne/h of LNG flowrate. The lowest levelized cost of water of the proposed process was 1.946 /m3, which was 21.05% lower than that of the base case. Thus, the proposed sustainable process can strengthen the energy–water nexus and reduce the greenhouse gas emission by utilizing LNG cold exergy.

Recommended citation: Tianbiao He, Jibao Zhang, Ning Mao, Praveen Linga. (2009). "Organic Rankine cycle integrated with hydrate-based desalination for a sustainable energy–water nexus system." Applied Energy. 291，116839. http://tianbiaohe.github.io/files/organic_2021.pdf

Teaching-learning self-study approach for optimal retrofitting of dual mixed refrigerant LNG process: Energy and exergy perspective

Published in Applied Energy, 2021

This study unfolds the advanced process configuration modification in the evolution of a dual mixed refrigerant (DMR) process for natural gas liquefaction, followed by its optimization through a unique approach i.e., teaching–learning self-study optimization (TLSO). The DMR process is improved by replacing Joule Thomson valves with the isentropic cryogenic turbines. To ensure the maximum possible thermodynamic performance of the retrofitted DMR process, the TLSO paradigm is used and evaluated. The energy, exergy, coefficient of performance, and figure of merit are determined and compared with conventional bench-scale DMR process to find the performance improvement opportunities in the proposed cryogenic turbine-retrofitted DMR process. The performance analysis revealed that the proposed optimal retrofitted DMR process could produce LNG using 28.57% less energy than the base case. The detailed thermodynamic evaluation revealed that the proposed DMR process has 64.68% exergy efficiency, 2.42 coefficient of performance, and 41.6% figure of merit, which are 13.37%, 19%, and 11.9%, higher than the conventional DMR process, respectively. This study would significantly help process engineers overcome the challenges of relating energy efficiency of the LNG plants for both onshore and offshore applications.

Recommended citation: Muhammad Abdul Qyyum, Faisal Ahmed, Alam Nawaz, Tianbiao He, Moonyong Lee. (2021). "Teaching-learning self-study approach for optimal retrofitting of dual mixed refrigerant LNG process: Energy and exergy perspective." Applied Energy. 298, 117187. http://tianbiaohe.github.io/files/teaching_2021.pdf

Effects of cooling and heating sources properties and working fluid selection on cryogenic organic Rankine cycle for LNG cold energy utilization

Published in Energy Conversion and Management, 2021

Cryogenic organic Rankine cycle (ORC) is considered as one of the most attractive solutions to utilize LNG cold energy for power generation. However, its thermodynamic performance is affected by cooling and heating sources and working fluid selection significantly. Thus, it is crucial to quantify the effects of these factors on cryogenic ORC performance. In this work, we proposed a single-stage cryogenic ORC system to utilize LNG cold energy for sustainable power generation. The effects of LNG vaporization pressure, seawater temperature, minimum temperature approach (MTA), and working fluid selection on cryogenic ORC performance were explored quantitatively. The proposed system adopting different single working fluids and binary working fluids was optimized by particle swarm optimization algorithm to maximize specific net power output (SNPO) with respective to different cooling and heating source properties. The results indicated that the LNG vaporization pressure had the most significant influence on ORC performance. Moreover, R1270 exhibited the highest SNPO (89.34 kJ/kg) and exergy efficiency (18.96%), while C2H6 showed the highest thermal efficiency (14.51%). The overall performance was improved significantly by using R1270 and C2H6 (30% and 70%) as binary mixture working fluid at 4000 kPa LNG vaporization pressure. However, performance intensification was marginal for a higher LNG vaporization pressure. These results revealed that binary working fluids were not always superior to single working fluids. Hence, this study provided valuable insights on choosing proper working fluids and optimizing design parameters for cryogenic ORC at different operation conditions.

Recommended citation: He, T., Ma, H., Ma, J., Mao, N., & Liu, Z. (2021). "Effects of cooling and heating sources properties and working fluid selection on cryogenic organic Rankine cycle for LNG cold energy utilization." Energy Conversion and Management. 247, 114706. http://tianbiaohe.github.io/files/effect_2021.pdf

talks

teaching

Teaching experience 1

Undergraduate course, University 1, Department, 2014

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Teaching experience 2

Workshop, University 1, Department, 2015

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