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Supercapacitors and fuel cells are essential energy devices for the implementation of a real renewable energy economy. The development of highly efficient and low-cost electrode materials is one of the major challenges to improve these devices. Biomass-derived carbon materials are postulated as a very interesting alternative, as they can be obtained from inexpensive precursors and abundant resources obtained directly from nature. However, they commonly exhibit an underdeveloped porous structure and a lack of controlled surface functionalities that limit their real application. Therefore, it is essential to apply different approaches to modify and design their properties to fit the requirements of energy storage and conversion devices. This chapter attempts to provide a broad overview of the most promising strategies that can be followed to design biomass-derived carbon materials with highly efficient performance in energy applications, such as supercapacitors and fuel cells.

This paper investigates the feasibility of recycling waste heat from a diesel engine, and also the effects of using ethanol-diesel oil as an alternative fuel. Through thermodynamic analyses, the study reveals that a significant amount of energy is contained in both the exhaust gas and cooling water, and that recycling this energy will reduce emissions, conserve energy, and improve the thermal and exergy efficiency of the diesel engine. The use of ethanol-diesel oil will lead to significantly reduced exhaust emissions without significant impact on the engine's performance parameters.