Environmental impact assessment of bio-hydrogenated diesel from hydrogen and co-product of palm oil industry

Bio-hydrogenated diesel (BHD) is a second generation biofuel that can be produced from vegetable oil and hydrogen via hydroprocessing. BHD is considered as one of alternative and renewable energy. This work presents evaluation of environmental impacts of BHD produced from palm fatty acid distillate (PFAD) compared to fatty acid methyl ester (FAME). Greenhouse gas emission, energy consumption, and overall environmental impacts are assessed. System boundary is from palm oil cultivation to BHD production. The functional unit is defined as 1 kg of fuel produced at the plant. The results indicate that energy consumption of BHD-PFAD is 1.18 times higher than that of BHD-FAME, while giving GHG emission 13.56 times lower than that of BHD-FAME. The results of overall environmental impacts indicated that BHD-PFAD was 3.58 greater than that of BHD-FAME.     

Novel superabsorbent materials from bacterial cellulose

A novel process for the production of superabsorbent materials (hydrogels) from bacterial cellulose (BC) was developed. Prior to crosslinking with a water‐soluble polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA), BC was first carboxymethylated and functionalized with glycidyl methacrylate. The degree of crosslinking influenced the swelling properties of the hydrogels. The use of greater amounts of PEGDA enhanced the formation of a thicker macromolecular network containing fewer capillary spaces in the crosslinked gel. The maximum water retention value of the hydrogels containing 2.5–3.5 mmol of carboxyl groups per gram of gel reached 125 g g^?1 in distilled water, and 29 g g^?1 in saline (0.9% NaCl solution). The highly porous hydrogel architecture with a pore size of 350–600 µm created a high specific surface area. This enables rapid mass penetration in superabsorbent applications. The superabsorbent hydrogels reached 80% of their maximum water absorption capacity in 30 min. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry     

An energy-efficient two-stage hybrid flow shop scheduling problem in a glass production

Energy-efficient scheduling is highly necessary for energy-intensive industries, such as glass, mould or chemical production. Inspired by a real-world glass-ceramics production process, this paper investigates a bi-criteria energy-efficient two-stage hybrid flow shop scheduling problem, in which parallel machines with eligibility are at stage 1 and a batch machine is at stage 2. The performance measures considered are makespan and total energy consumption. Time-of-use (TOU) electricity prices and different states of machines (working, idle and turnoff) are integrated. To tackle this problem, a mixed integer programming (MIP) is formulated, based on which an augmented ε-constraint (AUGMECON) method is adopted to obtain the exact Pareto front. A problem-tailored constructive heuristic method with local search strategy, a bi-objective tabu search algorithm and a bi-objective ant colony optimisation algorithm are developed to deal with medium- and large-scale problems. Extensive computational experiments are conducted, and a real-world case is solved. The results show effectiveness of the proposed methods, in particular the bi-objective tabu search.     

International Trade

Values of net oil imports(-)/exports for Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, the United States and Australia. Updated on a monthly basis. Number of imports for Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Other EU-15 (EU-15), Norway, Poland, Switzerland, Turkey, and Other Europe (OECD Europe), Canada, Chile, Mexico, and the United States (OECD Western Hemisphere), and Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, (OECD Asia-Pacific), and Total OECED. Current data for Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Other EU-15 (EU-15), Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey, and Other Europe (OECD Europe), Canada, Mexico, and the United States (OECD Western Hemisphere), Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, and New Zealand (OECD Asia-Pacific). Updated on a monthly basis. Current data for principal importers of natural gas and the amount in which they import from United States, Republic of Korea, United Kingdom, France, Japan, Italy, Germany and Spain (Table 19.1). Current data for principal exporters of natural gas and the amount they export to Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Turkmenistan, Qatar, Algeria, Nigeria, Indonesia, Malaysia and Australia (Table 19.2). Updated on a monthly basis.     

结合时间戳的指纹密钥数据加解密传输方案

目的 对于生物密钥而言，生物特征数据的安全与生物密钥的管理存储都很关键。为了构造能够应用在通信数据传输场景的生物密钥，同时保证生物特征本身的模糊性与密码学的精确性处于一种相对平衡状态，提出一种基于时间戳与指纹密钥的数据加解密传输方案。方法 利用发送方指纹特征点之间的相对信息，与保密随机矩阵生成发送方指纹密钥；借助通信双方的预先设定数与时间戳，生成接收方恢复指纹密钥时所需的辅助信息；利用发送方指纹密钥加密数据，实现密文数据的传输。结果 本文方法在仿真通信双方数据加解密的实现中，测试再生指纹密钥的识别率（GAR）与误识率（FAR）。通过实验数据分析，表明了本文提出的指纹密钥生成方法的可用性，以及指纹密钥作为数字身份所具备的可认证性，其中真实发送方的再生指纹密钥识别率可高达99.8%，并且本方案还可用于即时通信、对称加密等多种场景当中。结论 本文方法利用时间戳确定了通信事件的唯一性与不可否认性，同时实现了指纹密钥恢复时的"一次一密"。此外，方案通过保密随机矩阵实现了发送方指纹密钥的可撤销，极大程度保障了指纹数据的安全性。     

应用变频器技术实现SO2风机节能改造

铜目前,硫酸车间制酸一系列共有三台SO2风机,这三台风机均采用液力耦合器的调速方式,这种方式可以实现无极调速,但是存在着传动效率低,耗能大的缺点,并且这三台风机均已使用20年以上,处于设备的中晚期,工作效率已大大降低。目前行业内,均采用先进的变频调速方式。使用变频器来控制风机的转速,可以极大的节省电能,尤其是在低负荷情况下,可以实现低转速运转,大大提高硫酸系统的综合能耗指标。     

Is open innovation always the best for SMEs? An exploratory analysis at the project level

Open innovation (OI) projects are increasingly adopted by small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Yet, undertaking OI is not only a source of opportunities for SMEs as it can, at the same time, present risks. How SMEs manage the balance between the potential benefits and the emerging challenges of OI is still an overlooked topic in the literature. Using evidence gathered through multiple case studies and drawing upon the relational view of the firm, we explore how and why value creation opportunities and different managerial challenges emerge for SMEs pursuing OI projects. We analyze different stages of OI projects in several different contexts of their implementation. Our analysis sheds light on the different nature and dynamics of knowledge involved within OI projects as important boundary conditions affecting successful search paths, learning processes, and the development of appropriability mechanisms. By offering a contextualized view of OI in SMEs, this study also provides insights to business managers on the situational opportunities and constraints of OI, including managerial suggestions on actions to manage tensions within differing OI projects.     

石英砂粒径大小对甲烷水合物形成及分布的影响

为了研究不同粒径多孔介质体系中甲烷水合物的形成，本文采用粒径分别为0.075~0.5mm、0.5~1mm、1~2mm和2~3mm的石英砂作为多孔介质，在初始压力7.0MPa、温度0.5℃条件下进行水合物形成实验并进行取样观察、分层分解，得出不同粒径大小石英砂中甲烷水合物形成及分布的特征。结果表明：随着石英砂粒径的增大，石英砂砂体中的水合物形成量和初始水合物形成速率在逐渐减小；在粒径为0.075~0.5mm、1~2mm和2~3mm石英砂中，充气过程中水合物便开始形成，且并未出现明显的水合物大量形成阶段，而在粒径为0.5~1mm石英砂体系中出现了水合物大量形成的阶段；通过计算发现，0.5~1mm石英砂体系的气体消耗量最大，为0.47mol，2~3mm石英砂体系的气体消耗量最小，仅为0.05mol；在这4种粒径的石英砂体表面的甲烷水合物主要以分散状均匀分布于颗粒之间或胶结成块，但这一观察结果与通过分解的方法所得到的石英砂上部水合物形成量大于下部的结果存在差异；重复实验也发现，仅在粒径为0.5~1mm石英砂顶部出现了水合物大量富集的现象，因此推断认为在一定粒径的介质体系同时上部存在较大空隙时，水合物有可能会在空隙中大量富集存在。这一实验结果对自然环境中水合物的赋存区域及形态的预测具有一定的参考价值。     

基于农产品品牌社会责任的消费者智能消费推荐研究

为了在竞争日益激烈的市场中提高竞争力,达到个性化销售目的,创造更大品牌价值,提出一种基于农产品品牌社会责任的消费者智能消费推荐研究。实验利用离散函数及品牌认可度描述推荐结果,分析推荐结果指数,证明基于社会责任的智能推荐研究令消费者认可度更高,与文献方法比较推荐结果有更高的精确度,设计的推荐模型可实现农产品个性销售目的,令农产品有更大的发展空间。     

求解绝对值方程的捕鱼算法

提出一种求解绝对值方程的捕鱼算法。算法首先将绝对值问题转化为一个最小化问题,然后使用三种搜索模式对目标函数进行寻优。数值实验结果表明,与粒子群算法和人群搜索算法以及他们的改进算法相比,所提算法不仅获得了稳定的求解结果,而且在最小值、最大值、平均值和方差等指标上均明显优于其他对比算法。