Promise of Future Searches for Cosmic Topology.

The shortest distance around the Universe through us is unlikely to be much larger than the horizon diameter if microwave background anomalies are due to cosmic topology. We show that observational constraints from the lack of matched temperature circles in the microwave background leave many possibilities for such topologies. We evaluate the detectability of microwave background multipole correlations for sample cases.

Thermal plasma potential to remediate soil contaminated with diesel.

Petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) are recognized as one of the major soil contaminants causing negative environmental impact. Thereby, PHCs remediation from the soil is essential. Hence, this experimental study aimed to assess the potential of thermal water vapor and air plasmas to remediate soil contaminated with habitually used PHCs - diesel.

Biomass gasification to syngas in thermal water vapor arc discharge plasma.

This study investigated biomass (wood pellets) gasification to syngas using direct current (DC) thermal arc plasma at atmospheric pressure. Water vapor was used as a main gasifying agent and a plasma-forming gas. The biomass gasification system was quantified in terms of the producer gas composition, the tar content, the H/CO ratio, the carbon conversion efficiency, the energy conversion efficiency and the specific energy requirements.

Treatment of diesel-contaminated soil using thermal water vapor arc plasma.

Soil pollution with petroleum-based fuels is a serious issue causing environmental problems. Recently, the use of plasma technologies for soil remediation has shown an interest and great potential. The remediation process can be performed in a fast timeframe without adding supplementary chemical reagents or without additional pre-treatment of the polluted soil.

Energy recovery from waste glycerol by utilizing thermal water vapor plasma.

Glycerol, considered as a waste feedstock resulting from biodiesel production, has received much attention in recent years due to its properties, which offer to recover energy. The aim of this study was to investigate the use of a thermal water vapor plasma for waste (crude) glycerol conversion to synthesis gas, or syngas (H + CO). In parallel of crude glycerol, a pure glycerol (99.