Applicability of Waste Engine Oil for the Direct Production of Electricity

New methods for the use of waste products as input for other technologies are a constant subject of research efforts. One such product is waste engine oil. Due to the constantly increasing number of motor vehicles in the world, the recycling or application of engine oils for energy production purposes is currently of considerable importance. This paper contains research regarding the analysis of the electro-oxidation potential of waste engine oil, and thus the possibility of using such oil as a material in fuel cells. The research demonstrates the basic possibility of the electro-oxidation of this oil emulsion on a platinum electrode in an acid electrolyte (aqueous solution of H2SO4). It was shown that in the temperature range of 20–80 °C, the electro-oxidation of the waste engine oil emulsion occurred for all emulsion concentrations (0.005%, 0.010%, 0.030%, and 0.060% of the reactor volume). The maximum current density obtained in the measurements was 21 mA·cm−2 at the temperature of 60 °C (0.030% waste oil and 0.5 M electrolyte). Although this value is small, it encourages further research on the use of used engine oil for the direct generation of electricity.

Analysis of Al2O3 Nanostructure Using Scanning Microscopy

It has been reported that the size and shape of the pores depend on the structure of the base metal, the type of electrolyte, and the conditions of the anodizing process. The paper presents thin Al2O3 oxide layer formed under hard anodizing conditions on a plate made of EN AW-5251 aluminum alloy. The oxidation of the ceramic layer was carried out for 40–80 minutes in a three-component SAS electrolyte (aqueous solution of acids: sulphuric 33 ml/l, adipic 67 g/l, and oxalic 30 g/l) at a temperature of 293–313 K, and the current density was 200–400 A/m2. Presented images were taken by a scanning microscope. A computer analysis of the binary images of layers showed different shapes of pores. The structure of ceramic Al2O3 layers is one of the main factors determining mechanical properties. The resistance to wear of specimen-oxide coating layer depends on porosity, morphology, and roughness of the ceramic layer surface. A 3D oxide coating model, based on the computer analysis of images from a scanning electron microscope (Philips XL 30 ESEM/EDAX), was proposed.

Ultrafast X-ray absorption study of longitudinal–transverse phonon coupling in electrolyte aqueous solution

Ultrafast X-ray absorption spectroscopy is applied to study the conversion of longitudinal to transverse phonons in aqueous solution.