The inland navigation sector makes a significant contribution to the growth of the global economy as well as to climate change due to pollutants emitted by diesel engines. NOx emissions are very high in port areas where, due to traffic, the ships run at idling regimes. Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) represents one of the most suitable technologies, in terms of cost effectiveness, but does not perform well if the temperature during vessel operation is lower than 180 °C. Microwave technology can support preheating of the ceramic core of SCR in order to increase the temperature towards the optimal interval for the best NOx reduction. Research has focused on coupling a magnetron head to a SCR device in order to evaluate to what extent the technology can meet the requirements of Stage V of the European Directive related to NOx emissions. Measurements of NOx emitted have been performed on engines with 603.5 kW nominal power and 1500 rpm that operate at a lower engine speed (700–1200 rpm) and output power (58–418 kW). The values recorded for emissions using microwave heating of ceramic core of SCR have decreased by 89% for a constant load of engine and idling engine speed.

The solid waste of Rapana thomasiana seashells both from domestic activities and natural waste on seashore can be used to obtain viable products for medical applications. However, conventional technologies applied for sintering the materials require massive energy consumption due to the resistance heating. Microwave heating represents an advanced technology for sintering, but the stability of the process, in terms of thermal runaway and microwave plasma arc discharge, jeopardizes the quality of the sintered products. This paper aims to present the results of research focused on viable heating technology and the mechanical properties of the final products. A comparative analysis, in terms of energy efficiency vs. mechanical properties, has been performed for three different heating technologies: direct microwave heating, hybrid microwave heating and resistance heating. The results obtained concluded that the hybrid microwave heating led to final products from Rapana thomasiana solid waste with similar mechanical properties compared with resistance heating. In terms of energy efficiency, the hybrid microwave heating was 20 times better than resistance heating.

The condition of a dynamic machine (equipment) can be estimated at the current level, by measuring the vibration levels. Each component of a machine produces a vibration with one or more specific frequencies. Knowing the components of the spectrum of frequencies of the global vibration, it is possible to determine which of the components of the moving assembly the problem occurred. Thus, by measuring the vibration, a multitude of defects can be detected, for a wide variety of dynamic machines. Unlike other diagnostic devices, spectrum analyzers have the widest use in the evaluation of vibrations and specific stresses on fixed structures or on rotor blades. Other experiments evaluate the natural frequencies of the rotors, the influence of the cavity of the rotor-stator interaction. Model or prototype studies establish the influence of pressure pulsations at partial load for radial axial turbines [5]. In the work, the vibrational behavior of a Kaplan hydraulic turbine with 6 rotor blades of high power (P=200MW, Dn=9.5m), was analyzed when mechanical failures (wear) appeared after several years of operation, the graphs being taken from the diagnostic system of the studied hydrogen generator.