Nexus Papers

4 Research stories

about
Energy, Food and Water

from
southern Mediterranean countries

Foreword

The historical changes taking place in the Southern Mediterranean region since December 2010 call for a focused, innovative and ambitious response from the tertiary education institutions. Research and Innovation play a major role in promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth and job creation. Following the new strategy of the EU based on the development of a Common Knowledge and Innovation Space (CKIS) linked to smart growth and the EU's Innovation Agenda, Universities seek to enhance policy dialogue, national and regional capacity-building, cooperation in research and innovation, increased mobility opportunities for students, researchers and academics, with the aim of enhancing the scientific capacities of the Southern Mediterranean countries, increasing the impact and coherence of initiatives in the region as well as underlining the values of mutual respect, reciprocity and partnership.

In this framework UNIMED – Mediterranean Universities Union – plays an important role in strengthening university cooperation in research and innovation among Member States and with Southern Mediterranean partners.

UNIMED, founded in October 1991, is an association of Universities from the countries of the Mediterranean basin. It counts 91 associated Universities coming from 21 countries of both shores of Mediterranean (data updated to July 2015).

UNIMED’s aim is to develop university research and education in the Euro-Mediterranean area in order to contribute to scientific, cultural, social and economic cooperation. UNIMED acts in different fields: tangible and intangible cultural heritage, economics, energy, environment, management of water resources, transports, health, media, new technologies, history, tourism. The image that better represents our association is that of a University Without Walls.

UNIMED has always encouraged and promoted participation of its university members in the EU programmes dedicated to research and innovation (FP7, Horizon 2020) and has been involved itself as partner of coordinator of several projects focused on the research development.

Through the establishment of a second-level network, constituted by sub-Networks focused on specific sectors, UNIMED intend to create a database of research centers, university departments, ongoing projects and research line, including existing partnership in the selected fields, allowing an intensive exchange of information among the participating actors of the two Mediterranean shores for the creation of partnerships, collaborations and projects. The ultimate goal of UNIMED activity is indeed to strengthen the economic and social cohesion, in order to promote, on the  one  side,  crossborder,  transnational  and interregional  cooperation  and,  on  the  other  side, local sustainable development. In the recent years, UNIMED delivers training courses on European Programmes and Projects, both at basic and advanced levels, in order to support the Member Universities’ staff in accessing and managing this type of projects. Besides projects and collaborations, UNIMED organizes seminars, conferences, roundtable on these topics aiming at promoting to its members and the scientific community the necessity and importance to reinforce and develop the Euro-Mediterranean Higher Education and Research Area by contributing to building cultural bridges between both rims of the Mediterranean, and mutual understanding among people.

In this context, it is included the UNIMED - MED-SPRING call for contributions, whose objective is collecting research stories showcase to tell about research, projects and experience. The call for contributions was addressed to young researchers, from southern Mediterranean countries, with a research focus on the Nexus among Energy; High Quality Affordable Food and Scarcity of resources (mainly water) and how it satisfies the sustainability dimensions (economic, environmental, social and considering the institutional/governance dimension as crosscutting).

(Marcello Scalisi - Executive Director of UNIMED )

Index

Hanee M. Al- Dmoor
(Scientific Food Center, Jordan)
Building up new knowledge on food frauds to develop food strategies for defense plans

Oula Amrouni
(National Institute of Marine Sciences and Technologies, Tunisia)
Coastal evolution of sandy coasts in Tunisia in the context of Climate Change, and adaptation strategy

Ridha Elleuch
(University of Sfax, Tunisia)
Enhancement of c-Si solar cells efficiency by coupled plasmonic effects and combined light trapping/photon management by Ag/graphene/ZnO:RE layers

Taqiy Eddine Boukelia
(University of Constantine 1, Algeria)

Feasibility study of solar parabolic trough power plants for Algerian conditions

Hanee M. Al- Dmoor 

(Scientific Food Center, Jordan) 

Building up new knowledge on food frauds to develop food strategies for defense plans

The worldwide becomes under an escalating demands; population augment, shortage or inadequate resources, economics and poverty and habits changing of the diets. Food is one of the most important belongings that are affected by global change. Government authorities, researchers, food and drink producers should work to be alert to the possible for prevent and defense of food fraud and actively work with their customers and suppliers to identify and diminish the risks of food fraud. A food product belongs from industrial or traditional processing of raw food. Due to the different processes that can be used, the derived product can be also very different from the original matrices and usually have an added value both nutritive and economic. The latter benefits of food product represent the main reason for food fraud: economic gain, dissociating from food quality and human safety. Food fraud is a collective term used to encompass the deliberate and intentional substitution, addition, tampering, or misrepresentation of food, food ingredients, or food packaging; or false or misleading statements made about a product, for economic gain.

The diffusion on information regarding food frauds has resulted in a decrease of confidence of consumers towards food products. For this reason several international regulation deals with food frauds and safety risk of food fraud, among these the Codex Alimentarius, EU Regulations about official food control (Nº 882/2004), and the Food Chemical Codex. The USP food fraud database, which is reported also in the Food Chemical Codex has been developed as a repository for food ingredient fraud reports and associated analytical detection methods, actually it contains more than 2.100 records.

Food fraud is not a new problem, the number and characteristics of food fraud has increased over time (melamine in milk 2008, horsemeat scandal 2013) and new methodologies have been carried out to detect increasingly fine and sophisticated fraud moreover quantifying the economic or public health impact of food fraud remains difficult.

Food fraud demands the active engagement of every segment of the industry. Food experts agree the need exists for more reliable data, improved data analysis, new tools and technologies and a greater understanding of the underlying scientific, economic and cultural issues that enable food fraud.

The project is organized in four work packages; the first is Management and coordination of the project (WP1), which main activities will be the overall management of the project. The project coordinator will be responsible of the implementation of all WP controlling through internal reports the development of the activities reported in the “Project Activities Guide” prepared in the first stage of the project. Together with the WP coordinators the project coordinator will constitute an internal interim for the evaluation of the projects activities.

The second step of the project (WP2) will consist in the study and collection of the data available on food fraud, processing, analysis, legislation in the EU countries and in Mediterranean countries. This activity will allow to select the most important five food products susceptible to food fraud, and to identify the most common type of food fraud along the Mediterranean area.

Among this issue the project will contribute to improve the capacities for fraud detection as well as for better anticipating and preventing frauds: the project will investigate the current analytical methods for the detection of fraud in the selected food products. Moreover the project will promote the diffusion of knowledge in other to improve stakeholder capacity to understand and detect fraud.

The following step (WP3) will consist in the transfer of knowledge on food fraud, safety, quality, and the relations with human safety. Specific stages will be carried out during the project in al partner countries, with the aims to improve the knowledge on chemical and technological treatments, on fresh and processed products, and EU regulations on food safety. The stages will involve 80 people for the whole project (20 persons in each partner country), which almost 30% represented by women, in accordance with "The Roadmap for Equality between Women and Men".

Through these activities the project intends to increase confidence of consumers and markets in food products.

High level training activities aim to improve the theoretical and practical knowledge on food fraud, and quality, analysis method, technological processes, and jurisprudence, in order to improve the competitiveness of the food supply chain.

A critical activity of the project is represented by the communication package (WP4). The communication manager will set up the "Project Activities Guide" for Partners use. The Guide will describe the technical and administrative issues, the allocated budget, the contact details of WP coordinators, the operational details of all activities, and any other information useful for the correct implementation of the WPs. This activity will ensure that all the facilities used to carry out training activities, meetings and workshops will be identified with the EU logo, following the EU "Communication and Visibility Manual for EU External Actions". The activities of the communication package will lead to the implementation of the MEDNET internet-based network which will constitute a technical scientific body at European and Mediterranean basin level aimed to coordinate project activities, and to spread all the data, photographs, and any other documents made by the project.

The expected impacts include ;

• Implementation of integrated performance management systems supporting day-to-day operations, ensuring a sound financial management of the whole project.

• Implementation of corrective actions systems, both financial and technical, among the overall project activities.

• Implementation of an efficient and accurate retention and delivery of project information.

• Realization of internal audit meetings every six months with the drafting of conclusive narrative reports.

• Realization of financial reunions every three months with the drafting of internal reports

• Development of financial guidelines to make correct expenditures.

• Realization of a double entry financial book keeping system either for financial manager and partner’s use.

• Agreement between the timesheet and the activities.

• Achieve more developments in authentication of food products, testing, and standardization.

• Development in the legislation and regulations in adulteration and fraud or authentication of food products.

• Minimize of food adulteration and fraud of food products.

• Achieve more stability of quality parameters to increase in the overall public health.

• Interact and engage with researchers and transmit of knowledge and expertise.

• Increase confidence of consumers and markets in food products quality.

• Realization of a stable technical and scientific assistance service for producer, consumers and public bodies in the field of food processing, safety, quality and analytical detection of fraud.

• Exchange of scientific information and persons within the MEDNET network.

• Spreading of cultures among European and Mediterranean Sea Basin.

• Increasing voluntary acceptance of EU agro-food quality and safety standards.

• Improvement of women's social condition, especially through a better involvement on decision-making in the agricultural activities.

• Drafting of appropriate monitoring guidelines for each activity at basic and high

• Number of people involved in basic and high level training activities (n° 80 for the whole project).

• Number of public bodies involved in the implementation of courses (at least one for each partner).

• Rising of community perception of the role of EU in supporting education and development on food safety and environmental sustainability items.

• Improvement of scientific cooperation among EUMCs and MPCs in spreading the culture of food safety and environmental respect.

• Increasing of MPCs voluntary acceptance of EU agro-food safety standards.

• Implementation of stable network to improve trade, food safety and human health, the respect for the environment, and the improvement of women conditions.

• Implementation of the “Project Activities Guide”.

Oula Amrouni
(National Institute of Marine Sciences and Technologies, Tunisia)

Coastal evolution of sandy coasts in Tunisia in the context of Climate Change, and adaptation strategy

. Socio-economic context

In Mediterranean areas, there is an increasing need to protect coastal landscapes, appearing highly dependent to water and soil resources. Given the very high vulnerability of Mediterranean countries to the projected impacts of climate change, it cannot afford inaction on either the global, regional, or national scales. Based on the findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2014), The WCRP report (2013) and the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) (El Raey,2012), we can categorically state that the Mediterranean coastal areas are in many ways among the most vulnerable in the world to the potential impacts of climate change, the most significant of which are increased average temperatures, less and more erratic precipitation, and sea level rise (SLR), in a region which already suffers from aridity, recurrent drought and water scarcity. According to recent results of TOLBA AND SAAB, 2009, Mediterranean beaches, zones of increasing human population (Fig. 1), were affected under various sea level rises. The most vulnerable areas were located on North Africa and the Middle East. It indicates that Mauritania, Tunisia, Libya, the Nile delta, the Gulf States including Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq are most vulnerable areas.

The latest Tunisian study of the CVI (Coastal Vulnerability index) was established by the APAL agency (APAL-PNUD-IHEE, 2012) (Fig. 1a). The assessment of the vulnerability of the Tunisian coast was based on a combined analysis of physical and socio-economic data to provide an overview of the relative potential of coastal damage caused by rising sea level SLR. The methodology carried out was based both on physical variables such the topography of the nearshore hinterland, the shoreline geomorphology, the lithology, the height of the coastal dune ridge, the morphodynamic classification of the beaches, the grain size, the annual wave height, the amplitude of the tide, and a socio-economic variable that is represented by the use of the coast, for the different Tunisian coastal areas using GIS. The result shows that:

i. About 22% of the coast is very vulnerable. More specifically, the most vulnerable areas are mainly in the Gulf of Gabes.

ii. Vulnerable coastal classified the Gulf of Gabes and Cape Bon with a percentage of 22%. Unfortunately, the most vulnerable areas are the most populated regions located in:

- The mouths of rivers (Zouraa, Medjerda, Méliane, Abid, etc.).

- Coastal cities (Tabarka, Bizerte, Sounine, Rafraf, Marsa, Rades, Hammam Lif, Slimène, Nabeul, Hammamet, Chatt Mariem, Sousse, Sfax north, Chebba, Gabes, El Ataya, etc.)

- Estuaries (Wadi El Fard, Akarit, El Melah).

- Salt marshes (Kneiss, Gattaya, Akarit, El Fard, Jerba, Zarzis, etc.)

- Sandy spits (Ras Remel & El Kantra, Djerba, Sfax,Chaffar, Gulf of Gabes, Ghar El Melah, Kalet Andalus, Gulf of Tunis, etc.).

iii. The moderately vulnerable areas represent 24% of all Tunisian coasts. These coasts are mainly located in:

- The coastlines of the North Coast (pocket beaches).

- Lagoons (Ghar el Melah, Bizerte, Tunis, El Bibene).

- Part of Cap Bon and the Gulf of Hammamet, Monastir Bay, Ras Dimass, Salakta, Sfax, coastline S Kerkhena, Skhira, Zarrat, Southern Djerba, Zarzis, etc).

iv. Coastal weakly to very weakly vulnerable represent 32% of the Tunisian coast. These areas are mainly rocky shores.

II. Coastal evolution of sandy coasts in Tunisia in the context of Climate Change

The Gulf of Tunis and the Mahdia beaches (Gulf of Hammamet) are listed bellow among the most vulnerable coastal zone exposed to the flooding risks (Tab.1). Eventhough the different geomorphologic entities of the two sites, the CV&C affect the coastal system and expose the population to damage.

II.1 Workfield 1: Cape Ferina-Cape Gammarth, western bay of the Gulf of Tunis

The Gulf of Tunis is a complex coastal environment which has several sedimentary systems (platforms, foreshore, beaches, lagoons, salt flats, rivers, channels) (Fig. 2). It is classified as vulnerable by very vulnerable to various studies (Kouki, 1984; Kalai, 1985; IHE; 2008, El Arrim 1996; Essonni 1998; STUDI et SEMAH, 1998; Added et al., 2003 ; Chkioua, 2005 ;Brahim et al., 2007; Ben Charrada et al., 2009 ; Louati et al., 2009 ).An abundance of fine sediment, which is defined to be particles smaller than sand (i.e., less than 63 μm), is provided to the Gulf of Tunis from natural sources such as rivers and cliffs which remained both by natural and human factors (Jouirou, 1982, Kouki, 1984; El Arrim,1996; Chkioua, 2005, Amrouni, 2014).

Unfortunately, little is known about the amounts and timing of fine sediment inputs from natural sources, largely due to the focus on quantifying sand and gravel inputs into littoral. Furthermore, it is difficult to quantify the relative inputs and potential impacts of fine sediments from human activities (such as beach nourishment and harbor dredging), when the natural sources have not been adequately characterized. The impact of such pressure is traduced by a generalized coastline retreat whish can varied from a few meters to 2 m/ year (Oueslati, 2010) and estimated to 0,12 to 1,11 m/an between Medjerda and Gammarth from 1887 to 1974, and to 3,73 à 9 m/year from 1974 to 2000 (Saidi, 2013).

II.2 Workfield 2: Cap Dimas -Cap Africa, Mahdia beach, Gulf of Hammamet,Tunisia

II.2.1 Temporal coastline evolution

The second site selected, the Mahdia beach, is located in the southest part of the gulf of Hammamet (Fig.3) .The coastal behavior may have differed from those leading to differences in dune formation processes and morphology. Two workfield were monitored: the Neirat beach, is the most sensitive part to sea-level rise. Factors contributing to this sensitivity include the characteristic of the beach (width, slope, and orientation) and dynamic shore zone (longshore transport, aeolian process).The observed trend of the shoreline level in the southern part of the bay shows significant retreat of the coastline (0.3 m/year along the 35 past years) at Neirat beach (Amrouni et al.,2003;2004) (Fig.4a). The morphological survey of the backshore acquired between 1999 and 2005 confirms the erosion of the beach (Fig. 4b). In fact, the upper beach is characterized by steeper slope at the backshore concavity shape. The greatest rate of erosion in the Neirat beach (large gap created by the dual marine and aeolian action) is associated to the destruction of coastal dune because of human activities.The accretion pathway of the Asfouria beach is correlated with the growth of artificial dune ridge (formed after the setting up of the windbreakers in 1999).

Changes in beach and/or nearshore morphology are to be reflected by micro-scale notably by seasonal changes in the erosion/accretion status and morphology of the frontal dunes. On short time scales, dune erosion of Mahdia beach, during and after severe storms, acts to naturally replenish beach and nearshore levels where they exist. The effect of climate change and storm surge would be more serious the Neirat beach, which the dune ridge, natural barrier of wave action were destroyed (Amrouni et al.,, 2007).

The response of the beach to the wave action is depending on the dune system. In fact, the coast trend is progressive if it is bordered by a stable foredune ridge. The system become vulnerable and eroded if the bordered dunes are scarped and interrupted by human building.

II.2.2 The cross shore evolution of the Mahdia sandy beach under the storm surge event

Field measurements, including topography profiles on the upper beach during annual and short term (seasonal) bathymetric survey and sediment budget evolution, have been used to evaluate the functioning and response of the coastal zone of Tunisia beach. The cross-shore profile response have been obtained with the terrain regeneration SMC modeling under the storm surge event ( short-term evolution), from an PETRA_SMC simulation .We proceed by the creation of three different cases of storm , along a theoretical cross-shore profile, constant slope is being exposed to the dynamics parameters (-10 m)(storm agitation :12, 18 and 32 h). The modeling result of the cross shore dynamics confirms the dynamic evolution of the eroded or accreted sediment during the storm surge and the coastline retreat. Figure 5 shows the simulation obtained from Petra .The dissipative beach with gentle slope (as the Asfouria field) shows a positive response (stable shoreline level) to the wave refracted action. The Neirat eroded beach reveals shoreline erosion trend under the storm event (Amrouni et Abdeljaouad, 2013).

II.2.3 Coastal aeolian dune and nearshore morphodynamics, Mahdia, Sahel of Tunisia

The coastal system, a coveted space of development is a fragile and subject place to a strong deterioration. In fact, coastal foredune is a vital component of coastal and flood defenses in many parts of the world. It is the most conservative portion of the profile, undergoing dimensional and temporal changes of far less magnitude and frequency than the sand beach or the offshore zone (Psuty, 2008). On short time scale, dune erosion, during and after severe storms, acts to naturally replenish beach and nearshore levels (Pye, et al, 1994).

Interannual sedimentary evolution after the setting up of windbreakers management (Asfouria beach, Mahdia, Gulf of Hammamet, Tunisia)

The southern part of the Mahdia workfield is characterized by the setting up of the windbreakers fences (APAL project, 1999) (Asfouria beach, Fig.3 (e)). The Digital Elevation model established by comparison of the topographic surveys in March 2003 and March 2005 shows a significant positive tendency towards rapid dune development of the beach. The spatial evolution of the sedimentary budget of the different parts of the study area shows biggest foreshore sedimentation. The evaluation of the budget indicates a growth of the beach, roughly about 50.10³ m3/yr. In fact, the coastal system is accumulating sediment throughout the coastal drift sediment supply removed by the active wind into the dune ridge (Fig. 6).

Interannual sedimentary evolution in the overexploited beach (Neirat beach, Mahdia, Gulf of Hammamet, Tunisia)

At the Neirat beach, the sediment budget quantification confirms the trend of erosion with a deficit concerning sediment balance. It is at the level of the upper part of the beach, that erosion is maximal. Apart from a slight accretion of the foredune in the north and south of the site (Fig. 6; station 1 and 4), the rest of the area show erosion, specifically toward the centre of the beach, and at the toe of vegetated foredunes at the south end. Sand sheet accumulation is dispersed in the interdune space. The presence of a large corridor of deflation (75 to 100 m) in the central part causes the widening of water channels that drive sediments to nearshore bar during a phase of swell wave. Beach cusps are very common along the central section of Neirat beach; commonly result of the correlative effects caused by a reduced sand supply from the foredune accumulation, and by energetic, lateral swash action acting on a steep beachface. Such swash motion is generated by obliquely incident wind waves generated by the sea breeze.

III. The Tunisian governance adaptation to the coastal vulnerability

The contribution to policy and governance will be necessary to attain the scientific goal and to ensure the sustainable management of water resources at catchment to basin scale, also establishing a systematic process of developing, allocating and monitoring the use of water resources and the assessment of the coastal zones. The coastal region constitutes the backbone of Tunisia's economy with important agricultural activity, industry and ports offering access to external markets. It is also considered an important water reserve for the whole country, with coastal aquifers accounting for over 50% of Tunisia’s shallow groundwater resources. As a result, the government of Tunisia has identified sea level rise and coastal development as a top priority for adaptation action. The APAL Agency (Ministry of Environment) funded project aims to promote innovative adaptation strategies, technologies and financing options in Tunisia’s most vulnerable coastal areas. The latest Project has been achieved in December, 2014 entitled: “Addressing Climate Change Vulnerabilities and Risks in Vulnerable Coastal Areas of Tunisia” financed by the PNUD (http://www.undp-alm.org/projects/sccf-tunisia) (APAL-PNUD, 2014).

Coastal adaptation are created including a comprehensive coastal adaptation investment plan for the tourism sector; introduction of regulations and disbursement procedures for the National Fund for the Protection of Tourism Zones and; introduction of property insurance and fiscal mechanisms that provide effective risk sharing and risk reduction incentives for highly exposed businesses and households. Following this national strategy the current and future approaches will address the long term needs for shoreline protection in the face of climate change in Tunisia. It will implement such measures as beach nourishment, dune system and coastal marshland restoration, controlled extraction and management of the groundwater reserves in the coastal areas to buffer the saltwater intrusion. The national agencies projects also address the needs for improved coastal risk monitoring and early warning systems in response to the increasing storminess. Policy transformations and economic instruments that will be put in place ensure long term climate resilient management practices of coastal regions and their human and economic assets.

How the key stakeholders involved in the coastal project include the private sector, civil society organizations, local and indigenous communities

The Ministry of Environment and its National Shore Protection and Planning Agency (APAL) will be the main partners respectively for each scientific project implementation and execution. Other key ministries will also sit on the current project board and are expected to play a leading role in several parts of the project. Ministries of Agriculture and of Transport and Equipment (DGAT) and Interior will actively contribute to the regulatory development process and will provide technical and logistical support to adaptation/ICZM planning and demonstration activities. Ministry of Finance and other relevant line ministries (especially Tourism) will be strongly engaged in the development of the desired adaptation financing instruments. National Centers of Excellence, such as the National Observatory for Environment and Sustainable Development (OTEDD), National Meteorological Institute (INM) and National Institute of Marine Science and Technology (INSTM) and Tunisian Non Governmental Associations, will provide valuable scientific and technical inputs to the coastal project. The data and information systems are introduced in the socio-economic environmental strategy by the vulgarization and diffusion of good lessons beyond the project lifetime.

FIGURES

Fig. 1 : Douay N. (dir.), 2009, La Méditerranée à l’heure de la métropolisation, Paris, PUCA Observatoire des territoires et de la métropolisation dans l’espace méditerranéen, 242 p. http://www.metropolisation-

Fig.1a: Map of the CVI distribution on the Tunisian coastal zones (APAL-PNUD, IHEE, 2012).

Fig. 2: Overview of the western bay of the Gulf of Tunis, Tunisia. The figure indicates the main morphological entities. From north to the south (a) Cape Ferina sandy beach (b) Ghar El Melah beach (c) Kalâat Andalous beach (d) sandy spit of Kalâat Andalous (e) Medjerda river mouth (f) artificial channel Khlij (g) coastal dune of Raoued beach and (h) Cape Gammarth rocky beach.

Fig. 3: The bay of Mahdia (Gulf of Hammamet, Tunisia). The morphological entities of the coastal zone (a) sandy spit of Ras Dimas (b) Echraff eroded beach (c) Echraff Lagoons (d) Neirat beach (e) Asfouria beach ( Managed by the windbreakers) and (f) Cape Africa rocky beach.

a/ b/

Fig. 4: (a) Long-term (Diachronic monitoring 1962-1997) and (b) short term (2000-2005) coastline evolution in the Mahdia beaches ( Neirat and Asfouria fields).

Fig.5: Cross shore evolution of the Mahdia nearshore beach (Gulf of Hammamet, Tunisia). PETRA_SMC simulation (SMC modeling system). (A) Evolution of the wave height, the mean sea level and the bathymetry; (B) Temporal status bar; (C) Volume of eroded/accreted sediment during the simulation; (D) Coastline retreat: (1) horizontal retreat from the mean sea level (2) maximum horizontal retreat from MSL.

Fig. 6: Digital Elevation Model of the dunefield and the upper beach covering a seasonal period (2003-2004) demonstrating patterns of accumulation/erosion (m³) in the Mahdia beach. Positive value shows the sand accumulation. The histograms illustrate the sediment budget changes. (Amrouni et al, 2009).

TABLE

Table.1: List of the Tunisian coastal areas (Hectares) with a risk of flooding under the SLR (APAL-PNUD, 2012).

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Ridha Elleuch
(University of Sfax, Tunisia)

Enhancement of c-Si solar cells efficiency by coupled plasmonic effects and combined light trapping/photon management by Ag/graphene/ZnO:RE layers

To overcome the increasing problem of energy crisis, much effort has been focused on the exploration of green and sustainable energy, mainly solar energy based on silicon (Si) solar cells [1]. However, the conversion of this energy encounters difficult problems which encompass several aspects. One of these problems is the absorption of only about 60% of the available photons, and only part of the absorbed light is converted into the electricity. It is worthy to note that the theoretically calculated limit of the overall efficiency of silicon-based solar cells is reduced by the major losses of thermalization and transmission (Shockley-Queisser limit efficiency of about 31%) [2]. These two fundamental losses are arisen from the limited spectral response of c-Si solar cells to the wideband solar spectrum. About 45% of energy loss in the conversion of solar energy is due to the so-called spectral mismatch: low energy photons are not absorbed by the solar cell while high energy photons are only partly used by the solar cell. Therefore either the solar cell can be adapted to use the solar spectrum more efficiently -e.g. by combining multiple semiconductor materials with different band gaps, or the solar spectrum can be adapted to the solar cell with the use of a photon conversion layer(such cells can reach more than 40% efficiency).

At present, the high solar cell efficiency is around 24.7% for single crystalline c-Si, 11–17% for Si thin films, and about 10% for amorphous Si [3-5]. Basically, the conventional single junction semiconductor Si solar cells convert effectively only energy photons close to the semiconductor band gap Eg=1.1 eV [2]. Moreover, the working spectral range of the Si solar cells is [500–700nm] [6]. The thermalization loss is established when the excess energy of high energy photons (E>Eg) is lost via non-radiative relaxation of the excited electrons to the conduction band, in the form of heat. While transmission loss arises from photons with energy (E<Eg), which are not absorbed by the Si solar cell. These fundamental losses can be more than 50%.

To overcome this drawback, the Third Generation (3G) photovoltaics concepts have been proposed [7,8]. In fact, they concentrate on a better exploitation of the solar spectrum, such as intermediate band gaps [9], quantum dot concentrators [10], multijunction [11], heterojunction [12] and down- and up-converters [13,14]. The down- and up-converter concepts are based on the photon conversion of the incident spectrum, by absorbing photons from the sun and reemitting them at more favorable photons which contribute effectively to the generation of electrical current by Si solar cell. These passive approaches involve applying a luminescent species in a layer in front (downconvertor) and back (upconvertor) of the cell, thus eliminating the need to interfere with the active Si material [13-16]. These converters are based on the downconversion (DC) and upconversion (UC) processes of the emissions of the rare earth (RE) ions doped materials. Upconversion is an emission process in which multiple photons of lower energy excitation light are converted to the photons of higher energy emission light. Bloembergen [17] was the first to observe the upconversion phenomenon in RE ion-doped crystal in 1959, and Auzel [18] was the first to review and explore it in 1973. The downconversion through the quantum cutting (QC) process consists of splitting one high energy photon into two photons with lower energy. This process was first obtained in 1957 by Dexter [19] and observed from praseodymium (Pr3+) doped YF3 phosphors under the excitation of 185 nm wavelength [20,21].

Another important problem of c-Si solar cells is the light scattering of the incident sun rays. It is well known that more than 35% of the incoming light is reflected by air-Si interface.34-36 Light trapping by surface texturization is one of the important concepts for improving the performance of the Si solar cells. Antireflection coatings (ARC) thin films with surface texturization can reduce effectively the optical reflection. This manipulation method is based on employing an antireflective layer with an intermediate refractive index (n) (n~2) between the silicon (n=3.939) and the air (n=1) to increase light absorption and subsequent conversion efficiency, which can be further increased by enabling broadband antireflection with the solar spectrum [22]. Compared to powders which are not suitable in solar cells because of adverse light scattering, texturized surface films have a potential interest in the improvement of the c-Si solar cells efficiency [22, 23].

Recently, Graphene has been considered as the promising candidate material of optoelectronic or biomedical applications for the next generation due to the high electronic mobility (2.5 105 cm2 V-1 s-1 at room temperature) [24], high thermal conductivity (>3000 WmK-1) [25], high capability to sustain high electric current densities (106 times higher than copper) [26], high specific surface area (2360 m2/g of a single graphene sheet) [27], extraordinary tensile elasticity (~1 TPa) [28], high intrinsic strength (~130 GP) [29], complete impermeability to any gases [30], and outstanding optical transmittance (~97.7%) [31,32].

The progress in the high-yield production of graphene with specific properties is the critical step in bringing graphene applications to market. There are a large number of methods to prepare graphene products of various quality. For mass production of graphene products, liquid-phase exfoliation of graphite [33], named as ‘‘solution-based method’’, is the most potentially scalable route [34]. This method is based on exposing grapheme to solvents. By sonication, or by simply using shear-mixing techniques graphite exfoliates into individual platelets. Compared with other approaches, such as mechanical exfoliation of graphite [35], chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [36] and high-temperature epitaxial growth [37,38], solution-based method has several advantages including large-scale production, low cost, and easily functionalizing graphene [39-42].

But the yield of graphene by this physical exfoliation was extremely low and also affected by the solvent used. To address this issue, chemical methods have been proposed. A typical example is the reduction of graphene oxide (GO), which can be used to achieve mass production of graphene sheets (GNS) [43]. Unfortunately, the prepared GNS had a large amount of structural defects, resulting in a poor graphitic structure and thus poor electrical and chemical properties [44,45] Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has been used to prepare large area GNS. This is based on the deposition on an immovable substrate, such as Ni, Ru, Ir, Cu, Pt, and SiC [46-51]. It was found to be difficult to control the thickness of GNS and remove the substrate, and the size was limited by the size of the substrate used. Apparently, the preparation of GNS with a well-developed graphitic structure, particularly in a continuous mode which is essential for large scale production, is still lacking and thus needs investigations.

The biggest hindrance of the use of photon conversion thin films is their low luminescent efficiency compared to those in bulk counterparts, which is due to the small absorption cross sections arising from formally forbidden f-level atomic transitions of the dopants and the existence of a variety of quenchers in their large surface area [52], prompting a need for methods of enhancing their luminescence. Modifying upconverting materials to improve their efficiency by an approach based on the engineering of the electromagnetic environment experienced by upconverting materials using plasmonic structures allows for further increases in performance. Some research works reported on plasmon-enhanced upconversion which shown upconversion enhancements of up to 450 times more than conventional nanoparticles [53].

The main purpose of this project is to combine photon management and light trapping properties of the graphene/ ZnO:RE decorated plasmonic Ag thin films deposited on bifacial c-Si solar cells as a highly efficient up/down conversion and AR coatings. Based on the expertise of both “CNR- Istituto Processi Chimico-Fisici”[54-59] and “the Faculty of Sciences of Sfax”[22, 23, 61, 62], we propose to achieve the following objectives.

Objectives

In the first step, we attempt to deposit large surfaces (3 inches x 3 inches) graphene/ZnO:RE thin films on c-Si substrates by aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition (AACVD) atmospheric pressure method. For this aim, the synthesis of graphene isopropanol exfoliated precursors will be prepared by chemical methods in Italian lab. The obtained graphene liquid precursors will be dissolved in methanol/butanal solvent. For the ZnO:RE thin film deposition, Zinc acetate dehydrate and RE β-dictonates precursors with stoechiometric amounts, will be dissolved in alcoholic solutions (methanol, butanol). Graphene will be produced by exfoliation of HOPG in surfactant-based watery solutions or with the aid of organic solvents. Different approaches will be followed among which traditional sonication-ultracentrifugation methodologies or newer shear mixer techniques that allow for bulk production.

Secondly, silver (Ag) nanoparticles will be synthetized by solgel method using Ag(HNO3) precursors and mixing of water/methanol solvent. Then graphene/RE:ZnO thin films will be coated by a Ag nanoparticles using spin-coating method.

Finally, a series of structural, optical and electrical characterizations will be investigated to study the fundamental aspect of the newer Ag/graphene/RE:ZnO/c-Si solar cells as Scaning electron microscopy, X-rays diffractions, infrared measurements, room temperature photoluminescence, reflectivity.

Fabrication of such novel solar cell architecture will be done. The photovoltaic properties of the devices will be studied by spectral response and illuminated current density-voltage (J-V) measurements and incident photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE%) techniques. A prototype module (20x20cm2) with definite power will be fabricated to provide power needed for different businesses. This project is expected to significantly increase the current state-of-the-art energy conversion efficiency. The high efficient module, in conjunction with the potential low cost large area reel-to-reel fabrication technique, will bring the new c-Si solar cells into the energy market for applications.

Plasmonic coupled light trapping/photon management phenomena

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Taqiy Eddine Boukelia
(University of Constantine 1, Algeria)

Feasibility study of solar parabolic trough power plants for Algerian conditions

More rational use of energy is an important bridge to help transition from today’s fossil fuel dominated sector to a new one based on non-polluting fuels and sustainable technologies such as parabolic trough solar thermal power plants. A parabolic trough solar thermal power plant (PTSTPP) has different configurations depending on many parameters such as overall plant concept, heat transfer fluid (HTF) in the solar field, solar field-power block connection, and presence or absence of other auxiliaries such as thermal energy storage (TES) and fuel backup enhancing systems (FBS). The thermodynamic, economic and environment analyses of these concentrating solar power systems are required to identify effective and viable configuration.

The study brings out a methodology to study the feasibility of a parabolic trough solar thermal power plant with low investment cost in any location in the world, and taken Algeria as a case study to apply it.

I. Since the design and selection of any solar energy conversion system, the knowledge of accurate solar radiation data is extremely important for the optimal design and prediction of the solar system performance, and these data are not easily available due to financial or technical limitation, therefore, the first part of this study presented an approach to evaluate solar resources in the absence of measured data. The results showed that the methodology seems to give a very appropriate way for the management and exploitation of direct solar radiation resources for the design and analysis of concentrating solar power systems; these results are much better with low incertitudes compared to spatial database, it is easy to be implemented and uses simple equations, and can be applied to other worldwide locations.

II. The 2nd part of the study performed a 4E (Energy-Exergy-Environment-Economic) comparison of PTSTPPs with and without integrated TES and FBS. This comparative study investigates the influence of using two primary fluids (Therminol VP-1 and solar molten salt) in the solar field. Furthermore, the impacts of incorporating thermal energy storage or/and fuel backup system were analyzed based on the following parameters:

Design of the plants.

Annual energy and exergy performances, capacity factor and annual power generation.

Annual CO2 gas emissions, water and land use.

Total investment cost and levelized cost of electricity (LCOE).

The results of this comparison indicated that the configurations with integrated TES and FBS are found to be techno-economical.

III. The 3rd part of this study based on the artificial neural network (ANN) model to find the best approach for prediction and techno-economic optimization of the best two configurations of PTSTPPs illustrated from the 2nd part of the study. Furthermore, a 4E comparison of the optimized plants alongside the commercial Andasol 1 as reference plant considering hourly and annual performances was performed. The molten salt plant resulting as the best technology in techno-economic viewpoint. It is therefore available to get a minimum LCOE of more than 40 % less compared to available commercial Andasol 1 plant from the new optimized plant with the new optimized working conditions.

IV. The last part analyzed the feasibility of this system using 4E approach of the best technology emerging from the optimization and 4E comparative study in different locations in Algeria as a case study.

As this work is rich and of very high quality, it was published or at least submitted to more than twenty papers between international conference papers and journal articles:

1. Publications:

1. Boukelia T.E, Mecibah M.S. Solid Waste as renewable source of energy: Current and future possibility in Algeria. International Journal of Energy and Environmental Engineering 2012, 3:17.

2. Boukelia T.E, Mecibah M.S. Parabolic trough solar thermal power plant: potential, and projects development in Algeria. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 21, May 2013, Pages 288-297.

3. Boukelia T.E, Mecibah M.S. Estimation of direct solar irradiance intercepted by solar concentrator in different modes of tracking (Case study: Algeria). International Journal of Ambient Energy, in press.

4. Boukelia T.E, Mecibah M.S, Meriche I.E. A general model for estimation of monthly mean daily diffuse solar radiation over Algeria. Energy Conversion and Management, 81 (3), 2014, Pages 211-219.

5. Meriche I.E, Baghidja A.H, Boukelia T.E. Design and Performance Evaluation of Solar Gas Turbine Power Plant in South Western Algeria. International Journal of Renewable Energy Research, 4(1), 2014, Pages 224-232.

6. Mecibah M.S, Boukelia T.E. Introducing the best model for estimation the monthly mean daily global solar radiation on horizontal surface over six locations in Algeria. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 36, 2014, Pages 194-202.

7. Mecibah M.S, Boukelia T.E. Methodology for management and exploitation of DNI resources for CSP and CVP application (Case study: Algeria). International Journal of Energy and Environmental Engineering. 6(1), 2014, Pages 65-73.

8. Boukelia T.E, Mecibah M.S, Kumar B.N, Reddy K.S. Investigation of solar parabolic trough power plants with and without integrated TES and FBS using thermic oil and solar salt. Energy. In press. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2015.05.038

9. Boukelia T.E, Mecibah M.S, Kumar B.N, Reddy K.S. Optimization, selection and feasibility study of parabolic trough solar thermal power plants under Algerian conditions. Energy Conversion and Management, 101, 2015, pages 450–459.

10. Boukelia T.E, Arslan O, Mecibah M.S. ANN-based optimization of a parabolic trough solar thermal power plant. Energy. Under review.

11. Boukelia T.E, Arslan O, Mecibah M.S. Potential assessment of using molten salt in parabolic trough solar plant using ANN approach and considering hourly analysis. Applied Energy. Under review.

2. Conferences:

1. Boukelia T.E, Mecibah M.S. Sunshine based models for estimation monthly mean daily global solar radiation (Case studies of two southwestern locations in Algeria). Presented in the 5th edition of the International Conference on Electrical Engineering, Béchar (Algeria).

2. Boukelia T.E, Mecibah M.S. Simulation of solar radiation intercepted by solar concentrator in different modes of tracking installed in three different Algerian locations. Presented in the International Conference on Electrical Engineering and Automatic, Sétif (Algeria).

3. Boukelia T.E, Mecibah M.S. Estimating monthly mean daily global and diffuse solar radiation (Case study: Constantine). Presented in ‘’Les Premières Journées Internationales de la physique’’, Constantine (Algeria).

4. Boukelia T.E, Mecibah M.S, Meriche I.E. Design, optimization and feasibility study of parabolic trough solar thermal power plant with integrated TES and BS for Algerian conditions. Presented in the 3rd International Symposium on Environment-Friendly Energies and Applications, Paris (France).

5. Boukelia T.E, Mecibah M.S. Estimation the DNI from global and diffuse horizontal irradiance for Algeria. Presented in the 3rd International Symposium on Environment-Friendly Energies and Applications, Paris (France).

6. Meriche I.E, Beghidja A., Boukelia T.E. Numerical Simulation of Solar Gas Turbine Power Plant with Combined Cycle in South Algeria. Presented in the 3rd International Symposium on Environment-Friendly Energies and Applications, Paris (France).

7. Boukelia T.E, Mecibah M.S. 4E Comparative study of parabolic trough power plant using molten salt as HTF with and without integrated TES and FBS. Presented in the 2nd International Conference on Applied Energetics and Pollution (ICAEP’2014) Constantine (Algeria).

8. Boukelia T.E, Mecibah M.S. Comparative study of parabolic trough power plant with integrated TES and FBS using synthetic oil and molten salt. Presented in the 3rd International Conference on Control, Engineering and Information Technology Tlemcen (Algeria).

9. Boukelia T.E, Mecibah M.S, Arslan O, Arat H. Prediction of the levelized cost of electricity of parabolic trough solar thermal power plant using artificial neural networks. Presented in the 1st International Conference on Solar Energy (INCOSOLE 2015), Bordj Bou Arreridj (Algeria).

September 2015