Interest in sustainable nitrogen fertilizer production using plasma technology is rapidly growing, and this method is a promising way to decentralize fertilizer synthesis and achieve carbon-free production. However, improving efficiency remains a major challenge for the industrial application of this technology. Herein, we present comprehensive experiments using spark discharge to pinpoint the key factors affecting the efficiency of this process and provide technical approaches to improve the energy usage. We found that applying a bipolar voltage at high frequencies greatly benefited the NO_x yield and its efficiency via the utilization of residual species. Measurements using active cooling for the reactor and electrodes revealed that the chemical loss process was not significant, but the energy loss during the heating of the electrode was the dominant loss process, particularly at high frequencies (>20 kHz) where an anchor state of the spark was reached. However, the beneficial effects of higher frequencies compensated for and mitigated the higher power loss resulting in slowing the increase of the energy cost with the energy density. Moreover, enlarging the plasma zone (reaction channel) by increasing the electrode gap was an effective approach for enhancing the energy usage for the desired reaction. Further, the limitations of enlarging the gap were resolved by inserting a floating electrode in the large gap, yielding higher NO_x production (1.8%–3.0%) at a lower energy cost (1.9–4.4 MJ/mol), and further enhancements could be achieved by optimizing the reactor configuration. Therefore, the results provide an important basis for the further development and optimization of plasma reactors for efficient chemical reactions.

Plasma-based NOx synthesis from ambient air is a promising sustainable technology for producing value-added chemicals, such as nitrogen fertilizer and medication. The relatively low efficiency and product selectivity are major concerns that hinder the commercialization of this technology. Despite advancements in reducing energy costs, limited attention has been paid to improving and controlling selectivity, which significantly contributes to the overall cost. Thus, the present study aimed to gain insights into the efficient pathways and key factors for highly selective NOx synthesis in a recently developed high-frequency spark discharge (HFSD) reactor. The thorough investigations conducted proved that the higher energy efficiency of HFSD is due to higher vibrational and rotational excitations and their efficient utilization. However, the significant impact of higher temperatures on reactions led to poor selectivity of NO and NO2. Therefore, the role of influential factors, such as O2 and H2O contents, as well as residence time, on reactions, were analyzed and optimized. It is found that controlling the oxygen content remarkably improved product selectivity but negatively affected the energy cost. Moreover, water vapor triggered the so-called extended Zeldovich mechanism, which was evident in N2/H2O, affecting NOx formation and selectivity. Interestingly, tuning the gas flow rate effectively controlled selectivity without sacrificing the energy cost. A high NO selectivity of 95% was achieved at an energy cost of 2.1 MJ/mol when a relatively high flow rate of 4 L/min was used.

The present study focused on the Permian to Jurassic sequence in the Northern Highlands
area, NW Jordan. The Permian to Jurassic sequence in this area is thick and deeply buried, consisting
mainly of carbonate intercalated with clastic shale. This study integrated various datasets, including
total organic carbon (TOC, wt%), Rock-Eval pyrolysis, visual kerogen examination, gross composition,
lipid biomarkers, vitrinite reflectance (VRo%), and bottom-hole temperature measurements. The
main aim was to investigate the source rock characteristics of these strata regarding organic richness,
kerogen type, depositional setting, thermal maturity, and hydrocarbon generation timing. The
Permian strata are poor to fair source rocks, primarily containing kerogen type (KT) III. They are
immature in the AJ-1 well and over-mature in the NH-2 well. The Upper Triassic strata are poor
source rocks in the NH-1 well and fair to marginally good source rocks in the NH-2 well, containing
highly mature terrestrial KT III. These strata are immature to early mature in the AJ-1 well and at
the peak oil window stage in the NH-2 well. The Jurassic strata are poor source rocks, dominated
by KT III and KT II-III. They are immature to early mature in the AJ-1 well and have reached the oil
window in the NH-2 well. Biomarker-related ratios indicate that the Upper Triassic oils and Jurassic
samples are source rocks that received mainly terrestrial organic input accumulated in shallow
marine environments under highly reducing conditions. These strata are composed mostly of clayrich
lithologies with evidence of deposition in hypersaline and/or stratified water columns. 1D basin
models revealed that the Upper Triassic strata reached the peak oil window from the Early Cretaceous
(~80 Ma) to the present day in the NH-1 well and from ~130 Ma (Early Cretaceous) to ~90 Ma (Late
Cretaceous) in the NH-2 well, with the late stage of hydrocarbon generation continuing from ~90 Ma
to the present time. The present-day transformation ratio equals 77% in the Upper Triassic source
rocks, suggesting that these rocks have expelled substantial volumes of hydrocarbons in the NH-2
well. To achieve future successful hydrocarbon discoveries in NW Jordan, accurate seismic studies
and further geochemical analyses are recommended to precisely define the migration pathways.

The Wadi Sirhan Basin in Jordan originated from the Arabian Platform and served as a stable shelf during the
Paleozoic era. The Lower Paleozoic-Eocene sequence in the Wadi Sirhan Basin contains numerous shales, found,
in ascending order the Upper Ordovician Dubeidib, Lower Silurian Mudawwara, Maastrichtian Ghareb, Paleocene
Taqiyeh, and Eocene Sara fms. These strata warrant investigation of their source-rock potential and hydrocarbon
generation modeling, to precisely elucidate the timing of petroleum generation. To achieve this,
datasets were utilized from various analytical approaches, including Rock-Eval pyrolysis, visual kerogen analysis,
pyrolysis-GC, and lipid biomarker geochemistry. The aim of this study is to assess these source rocks regarding
organic matter quantity and quality, paleoenvironmental implications, thermal maturity, and petroleum generation
depth/time. The Lower Paleozoic Dubeidib and Mudawwara shales are identified as effective source
rocks, containing kerogen types II, II-III, and III. A high proportion of well-preserved, weakly fluorescent
amorphous organic matter suggests an origin from marine plankton-derived alginite in an oxygen-deficient
setting. These formations reached the peak oil window during the Devonian (~405-380 Ma) and Carboniferous
(~320-300 Ma). The Dubeidib Fm experienced late-stage oil generation during the Early Triassic (~255-
250 Ma), with a transformation ratio (TR) of 68%. The Ghareb Fm predominantly contains type II kerogen, while
the Taqiyeh and Sara fms mainly contain type I kerogen with minor type II kerogen. Thermal maturity assessments
using integrated parameters indicate that the Dubeidib and Mudawwara shales have entered the main
phase of hydrocarbon generation, while the Ghareb, Taqiyeh, and Sara shales remain immature. Furthermore,
analysis of biomarker ratios reveals the dominance of marine over terrestrial organic matter in the studied strata.
These clay-rich sediments were deposited under reducing conditions, which further facilitated the rearrangement
of steranes into diasteranes. The modeled TRs indicate the generation and subsequent expulsion of hydrocarbons,
but the absence of suitable reservoirs and/or improper trapping system, owing to the major Hercynian unconformity,
led to an incomplete petroleum system in the basin. Additional investigation is required to evaluate the
potential of the Early Paleozoic shales as subsurface unconventional resources, considering parameters such as
brittleness index and hydraulic fracturing. This study holds important implications for future hydrocarbon
exploration and development in the Wadi Sirhan Basin. The insights gained from such investigations could help
mitigate the risk of petroleum exploration failures in the Wadi Sirhan Basin, guiding future exploration and
development efforts towards promising approaches.

Different palaeoenvironmental features that pose natural geological, environmental, and engineering hazards to human operations occur frequently around the Nile Valley. Moreover, where these features were initially created, their relevance focuses on how the urban communities responded to the processes. So, a ground penetrating radar (GPR) field survey was carried out on different paleoenvironments of Pre-Quaternary and Quaternary sediment around Assiut. Deep and critical analyses of georadar facies were made to obtain clear images of these features with unprecedented resolution. The main objective of this study is to find some reasonable geological interpretations for these features. From this study, it is possible to identify and differentiate these features originating from different geological environments and climatological conditions in arid regions such as those around Assiut. In addition, the study serves as guidelines for environmental management and climatic changes for enhancing knowledge of urban development. Also, the study demonstrates how georadar can be used to create precise images of intricate shallow subsurface anatomy with possible palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic indicators.

This paper introduces a generalization of the Hasse derivative in the sense of the complex conformable derivative. The definition coincides with the classical version of the Hasse derivative of order i$$ i $$. Accordingly, a new base, named complex conformable Hasse derivative bases (CCHDBs), is defined. We investigate the existence of expansions of analytic functions in a series of CCHDBs in Fréchet space on closed and open disks, open regions surrounding closed disks, for all entire functions and at the origin. Moreover, an upper bound for the order and type of the CCHDBs is obtained and proved to be attainable. The ‐property of CCHDBs is also discussed. Our results improve and extend the analog results in the complex analysis related to the classical complex derivative of a base of polynomials (BPs). The obtained results clarify several implications for the CCHDBs of special functions such as Euler …

The present paper investigates the approximation of special monogenic functions (SMFs) in infinite series of hypercomplex Hasse derivative bases (HHDBs) in Fréchet modules (F-modules). The obtained results ensure the existence of such representation in closed hyperballs, open hyperballs, closed regions surrounding closed hyperballs, at the origin, and for all entire SMFs (ESMFs). Furthermore, we discuss the mode of increase (order and type) and the Tρ-property. This study enlightens several implications for some associated HHDBs, such as hypercomplex Bernoulli polynomials, hypercomplex Euler polynomials, and hypercomplex Bessel polynomials. Based on considering a more general class of bases in F-modules, our results enhance and generalize several known results concerning approximating functions in terms of bases in the complex and Clifford settings.

This paper presented a new Ruscheweyh fractional derivative of fractional order in the complex conformable calculus sense. We applied the constructed complex conformable Ruscheweyh derivative (CCRD) on a certain base of polynomials (BPs) in different regions of convergence in Fréchet spaces (F-spaces). Accordingly, we investigated the relation between the approximation properties of the resulting base and the original one. Moreover, we deduced the mode of increase (the order and type) and the Tρ-property of the polynomial bases defined by the CCRD. Some bases of special polynomials, such as Bessel, Chebyshev, Bernoulli, and Euler polynomials, have been discussed to ensure the validity of the obtained results.