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The COVID-19 pandemic emphasises the need for antiviral materials that can reduce airborne and surface-based virus transmission. This study aims to propose the use of additive manufacturing (AM) and surrogate modelling for the rapid development and deployment of novel copper-tungsten-silver (Cu-W-Ag) microporous architecture that shows strong antiviral behaviour against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

The research combines selective laser melting (SLM), in-situ alloying and surrogate modelling to conceive the antiviral Cu-W-Ag architecture. The approach is shown to be suitable for redistributed manufacturing by representing the pore morphology through a surrogate model that parametrically manipulates the SLM process parameters: hatch distance (h_d), scan speed (S_s) and laser power (L_p). The method drastically simplifies the three-dimensional (3D) printing of microporous materials by requiring only global geometrical dimensions solving current bottlenecks associated with high computed aided design data transfer required for the AM of porous materials.

The surrogate model developed in this study achieved an optimum parametric combination that resulted in microporous Cu-W-Ag with average pore sizes of 80 µm. Subsequent antiviral evaluation of the optimum architecture showed 100% viral inactivation within 5 h against a biosafe enveloped ribonucleic acid viral model of SARS-CoV-2.

The Cu-W-Ag architecture is suitable for redistributed manufacturing and can help reduce surface contamination of SARS-CoV-2. Nevertheless, further optimisation may improve the virus inactivation time.

The study was extended to demonstrate an open-source 3D printed Cu-W-Ag antiviral mask filter prototype.

The evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic brings new and unpredictable challenges where redistributed manufacturing of 3D printed antiviral materials can achieve rapid solutions.

The papers present for the first time a methodology to digitally conceive and print-on-demand a novel Cu-W-Ag alloy that shows high antiviral behaviour against SARS-CoV-2.

Diesel has traditionally been considered the best-suited and most widely used fuel in various sectors, including manufacturing industries, power production, automobiles and transportation. However, with the ongoing crisis of fossil fuel inadequacy, the search for alternative fuels and their application in these sectors has become increasingly important. One particularly interesting and beneficial alternative fuel is biodiesel derived from bio sources.

In this research, an attempt was made to use biodiesel in an unconventional micro gas turbine engine. It will remove the concentric use of diesel engines for power production by improving fuel efficiency as well as increasing the power production rate. Before the fuel is used enormously, it has to be checked in many ways such as performance, emission and combustion analysis experimentally.

In this paper, a detailed experimental study was made for the use of Spirulina microalgae biodiesel in a micro gas turbine. A small-scale setup with the primary micro gas turbine and secondary instruments such as a data acquisition system and AVL gas analyser. The reason for selecting the third-generation microalgae is due to its high lipid and biodiesel production rate. For the conduction of experimental tests, certain conditions were followed in addition that the engine rotating rpm was varied from 4,000, 5,000 and 6,000 rpm. The favourable and predicted results were obtained with the use of microalgae biodiesel.

The performance and combustion results were not exactly equal or greater for biodiesel blends but close to the values of pure diesel; however, the reduction in the emission of CO was at the appreciable level for the used spirulina microalgae biodiesel. The emission of nitrogen oxides and carbon dioxide was a little higher than the use of pure diesel. This experimental analysis results proved that the use of spirulina microalgae biodiesel is both economical and effective replacement for fossil fuel.