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This article introduces a new web-based decision support system created for early-stage feasibility assessments of renewable energy technologies in England, UK. The article includes a review of energy policy and regulation in England and a critical evaluation of literature on similar decision support systems. Overall, it shows a novel solution for a repeatable, scalable digital evidence base for the policy compliant deployment of renewable energy technologies. Data4Sustain is a spatial decision support system developed to quickly identify the feasibility of seven renewable energy technologies across large areas including wind, solar, hydro, shallow and geothermal. A multi-actor approach was used to identify the key factors that influence the technical feasibility of these technologies to generate electricity or heat for local consumption or regional distribution. The research demonstrates opportunities to improve the links between policy and regulation with deployment of renewable energy technologies using novel approaches to digital planning. Deployed, resilient, cost-effective and societally accepted renewable energy generation infrastructure has a role to play in ensuring universal access to affordable, reliableand modern energy supply. This is central to supporting a concerted transition to a low-carbon future in order to address climate change. The selection and siting of renewable energy technology is driven by natural resource availability and physical and regulatory constraints. These factors inform early-stage feasibility of renewables, helping to focus investment of time and money. Understanding their relative importance and identifying the most suitable technologies is a highly complex task due to the disparate and often unconnected sources of data and information needed. Data4Sustain help to overcome these challenges.

Three major suites of silicate inclusions in sublithospheric diamonds show evidence of formation at depths > 250 km, and for each suite there is evidence of their formation from subducted material. Two of these are the well known basic (majoritic garnet) and ultrabasic (MgSi-perovskite + ferropericlase) suites. The third, the recently recognised Ca-rich suite, is characterised by carbonate, Ca–Si–Ti minerals and some aluminous material. Carbon isotope ratios in the host diamonds and geochemical–petrological features of the inclusions themselves provide evidence for their derivation from subducted lithosphere materials. The diamonds hosting the basic and ultrabasic suites are suggested to form in fluids/melts resulting from the release of water caused by dehydration reactions affecting both the crustal and mantle portions of a subducting slab of ocean lithosphere. Conversely, the diamonds containing the Ca-rich suite are linked with the formation of carbonatitic melts. In the Juina kimberlite province of Brazil, all three suites have been found in close proximity. A model is presented whereby the formation of the suites occurs progressively during the subduction and stagnation of a single lithospheric slab, with all three suites being transported to the lithosphere by a plume with which the carbonatitic melts of the Ca-rich suite are associated. Nd–Sr isotopic data are presented for the Juina majoritic-garnet inclusions, which supports their formation from oceanic crust of Mesozoic age. In conjunction with published age data for a Ca–Si–Ti inclusion, the Juina (Brazil) sublithospheric inclusions document a series of events involving diamond formation during and following the emplacement of a subducted slab between ca 190 and 90 Ma beneath west Gondwanaland. This slab and related subducted slabs dating from the Palaeozoic at the Gondwanan margin may be the source of the widespread DUPAL geochemical anomaly in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The kimberlites bringing the diamonds to the Earth's surface may have arisen from a superplume, developed from a graveyard of former Gondwanan stagnant slabs, at the Core–Mantle-Boundary.

Designing automotive catalysts for effective control of NOx, HC and CO emissions under both lean and stoichiometric engine operation is a challenging task. The present work assesses the performance efficiency of a three-zone prototype catalytic convertor in reducing exhaust emissions from a gasoline engine, operating in Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) and Spark Ignition (SI) mode under lean and stoichiometric conditions. The performance of the convertor for HC oxidation follows the order: lean HCCI > stoichiometric SI > stoichiometric HCCI. The study mainly focused on the quantitative analysis of C1–C7 hydrocarbon compounds before and after the catalytic convertor. The results show that monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons such as toluene are present at higher concentrations in the exhaust under HCCI operation than in the SI case. On the other hand, benzene concentrations are higher in the SI exhaust. The most common exhaust products of the two engine operating modes are methane, ethylene, propylene, benzene, and toluene. The prototype catalytic convertor eliminates most of the hydrocarbon species in the exhaust under both combustion modes, especially with a lean mixture. Conversion efficiencies for the different hydrocarbon species over the catalyst were in the order of alkenes > alkanes > aromatics. Hydrogen was added upstream of the catalyst primarily to assess its ability to promote NOx reduction, however it was also found to influence the oxidation characteristics of the catalyst. During H2 addition, the methane concentration was higher downstream of the catalyst.

Three samples of gouge from a U-mineralised fault, and two model samples, montmorillonite and muscovite, spiked with U, were heat-treated at a range of temperatures up to 1100 °C. Mineralogical changes were followed by thermal analysis, powder XRD and electron microscopy, and U extractability was measured by extraction with NH4+. Changes in U speciation in the montmorillonite sample were followed using EXAFS spectroscopy. On heating, the minerals progressively dehydrate, dehydroxylate and eventually decompose to form new phases in a glassy matrix. In the case of montmorillonite (90% of U extractable from unheated material), U extractability increased slightly on heating to temperatures around 400 °C. Almost 50% of U was extracted from unheated muscovite, and this increased slightly by 450 °C. Above 500–600 °C, U extractability from both montmorillonite and muscovite declined to very low levels, reflecting dehydration of the uranyl ion and trapping in the new phases and glassy matrix. Uranium extractability from the natural samples was much lower in all cases (0.25–5% of the total before heating). In 2 samples, a significant increase in U extraction was associated with dehydroxylation at around 600 °C, followed by a decrease to very low levels at higher temperatures. Uranium extraction from the third natural sample, which contained X-ray amorphous U minerals, decreased steadily on heating. The results show that changes in U extraction can be related to structural and morphological changes in sheet silicate minerals. Heat treatment has potential to fix U but only if temperatures above 800 °C are reached. If only lower temperatures, in the range 400–600 °C, are used, then U extraction may increase.

The effect of pH (2–10) and humic acid (HA) concentration on the adsorption of HA onto a range of pure-phase inorganic colloids (δ-alumina, haematite, manganese dioxide, amorphous silica and titanium dioxide) has been studied, and the influence of HA on the colloidal zeta-potential has been investigated. The results showed a decrease in the adsorption of HA with increasing pH, due to both electrostatic effects and specific site interactions. Adsorption was influenced by colloid surface area, HA concentration and the nature of the mineral surface, with acidic surfaces exhibiting a lower affinity for adsorption than more basic surfaces. The HA was shown to confer a more negative surface charge on the colloids with the exception of silica. Natural organic matter (NOM) is ubiquitous in the aquatic environment, which would indicate that natural inorganic colloids are likely to possess NOM coatings and be predominantly negatively charged. The presence of HA was shown to strongly influence the adsorption of 152Eu (1 × 10−9 mol l−1) onto the inorganic colloids over the pH range investigated, except in the manganese dioxide system. 152Eu adsorption onto the bare colloids was shown to be highly pH dependent, adsorption increasing with pH. The mechanism appeared not to be purely electrostatic, but due to metal speciation and the nature of the surface sites, i.e. specific site binding. In the presence of HA, Eu adsorption generally showed an increase at low pH due to adsorption of EuHA complexes onto the colloid surface. At high and intermediate pH, adsorption was generally reduced owing to desorption of EuHA complexes from the colloid surface, and because inorganic Eu species were being prevented from adsorbing onto the colloid surface, a possible cause being a blocking mechanism by the HA. It can be concluded that if inorganic colloids are to be included in metal speciation and transport codes, a thorough understanding of the ternary interactions of NOM with toxic metals and inorganic colloids must be gained.

Le prolongement de la zone proximale d'atterrissage pour faciliter la reparation endovasculaire des anevrysmes de l'aorte avec des collets proximaux courts en utilisant la cheminee, la fenestration, ou la technique de prise d'air a ete precedemment rapportee. En outre, l'elargissement de la zone distale d'atterrissage en utilisant la technique du periscope a egalement a ete recemment decrit. Dans cette etude, nous avons employe une technique prolongee de la cheminee, « technique de telescopage » pour traiter avec succes un anevrysme rompu de l'aorte thoracoabdominal type III de Crawford chez un patient en insuffisance renale et avec une artere mesenterique superieure occluse.