Optimal site selection for solar power plants using multi-criteria evaluation: A case study from the Ayranci region in Karaman,Turkey

Currently, coal, oil and natural gas are mainly used for energy in most countries. These sources, called fossil fuels, are not renewable. Fossil fuels are limited, and their reserves are steadily decreasing. This situation causes the prices to rise constantly. On the contrary, renewable energy is clean, economical and unlimited. Turkey has a very high potential for renewable energy, and the Turkish government has made significant reforms for solar energy investments over the last decade. Site selection for solar power plants is a critical issue for large investments because of quality of terrain, local weathering factors, proximity to high transmission capacity lines, agricultural facilities and environmental conservation issues. Multi-criteria evaluation is a tool that allows one to choose the best criterion among multiple and offer a structure with a wide range of applications. In this paper, the ideal locations for solar power plant were selected using the geographic information system and analytic hierarchy process which is one of the multi-criteria evaluation methods. The resulting land suitability was grouped into three categories: low suitable, suitable and best suitable using an equal interval classification method. Consequently, 15,550 ha or 6.23% of the evaluated region was determined as the best suited areas for solar power plants.     

Monte Carlo-based assessment of system availability. A case study for cogeneration plants

The complexity of the modern engineering systems besides the need for realistic considerations when modeling their availability and reliability render analytic methods very difficult to be used. Simulation methods, such as the Monte Carlo technique, which allow modeling the behavior of complex systems under realistic time-dependent operational conditions, are suitable tools to approach this problem.The scope of this paper is, in the first place, to show the opportunity for using Monte Carlo simulation as an approach to carry out complex systems' availability/reliability assessment. In the second place, the paper proposes a general approach to complex systems availability/reliability assessment, which integrates the use of continuous time Monte Carlo simulation. Finally, this approach is exemplified and somehow validated by presenting the resolution of a case study consisting of an availability assessment for two alternative configurations of a cogeneration plant.In the case study, a certain random and discrete event will be generated in a computer model in order to create a realistic lifetime scenario of the plant, and results of the simulation of the plant's life cycle will be produced. After that, there is an estimation of the main performance measures by treating results as a series of real experiments and by using statistical inference to reach reasonable confidence intervals. The benefits of the different plant configurations are compared and discussed using the model, according to their fulfillment of the initial availability requirements for the plant.     

反渗透海水淡化阀控能量回收装置放大试验研究

能量回收装置是反渗透海水淡化系统的关键设备之一,对降低系统运行能耗和造水成本至关重要.等压正位移式能量回收装置具有工程放大性好和高效率等优点,成为国内外研究和推广的重点.针对自主开发的反渗透海水淡化阀控能量回收装置进行了中试放大研究,结合能量回收装置在反渗透海水淡化工程中的应用工艺,建立了相应的装置运行试验平台.对装置在处理量为40 m3/h、工作压力为6.4 MPa条件下的流体力学特性和效率特性进行了测试和分析,结果表明,阀控能量回收装置运行稳定性良好,装置能量回收效率达到95.96％.     

Production planning in automotive powertrain plants: a case study

Based on a real case study from the automotive industry, this paper deals with production planning in powertrain plants. We present an overview of the production planning process and propose a mixed integer linear programme to determine the production quantities of each product over a planning horizon of several days. Then, using real data of an engine assembly line, we simulate the performance obtained through the proposed model within a rolling horizon planning process. We perform multiple tests in order to evaluate the impact of two parameters involved in this process: planning frequency and frozen horizon length. Furthermore, in order to illustrate the value of improving coordination between engine plants and their customers, we evaluate the impact of the quality of demand information (orders and forecasts). We analyse the simulation results and provide insights and recommendations in order to achieve a good trade-off between service level, inventory, and planning stability.     

A bi-objective model for design and analysis of sustainable intermodal transportation systems: a case study of Turkey

This paper presents a mixed-integer linear optimisation model to analyse the intermodal transportation systems in the Turkish transportation industry. The solution approach includes mathematical modelling, data analysis from real-life cases and solving the resulting mathematical programming problem to minimise total transportation cost and carbon dioxide emissions by using two different exact solution methods in order to find the optimal solutions. The novel approach of this paper generates Pareto solutions quickly and allows the decision makers to identify sustainable solutions by using a newly developed solution methodology for bi-objective mixed-integer linear problems in real-life cases.     

Environmental assessment for non-prescribed infrastructure development projects: a case study in Bangkok Metropolitan

Rapid urbanization and urban growth have caused serious environmental problems in most cities of developing countries. Many infrastructure projects on varying scales have been implemented to meet the growing demands of such cities, but only a few are subjected to environmental impact assessment as part of the project approval process. In an attempt to justify environmental assessment (EA) for all infrastructure development projects (IDPs), irrespective of their scales, this paper investigates the environmental effects of large, medium and small IDPs implemented in urban fringe areas to understand and compare the nature of their impacts. The survey results show that respondents' perceptions of physical environment pertaining to air quality and noise were similar regardless of the scale of the project. However, in terms of vibration, surface water quality and ground water quality, the respondents' perceptions differed between large projects and small or medium projects. In order to avoid such negative impacts from IDPs in the future, this study proposes a mechanism for integrating EA into the planning and development control processes of local authorities.     

Spatial planning for wind farms: perspectives of a coastal area in southern Brazil

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Wind energy is considered one of the most promising clean technologies for power generation. For the sustainable development of this industry, it is...     

Environmental impact assessment of the Egyptian cement industry based on a life-cycle assessment approach: a comparative study between Egyptian and Swiss plants

Egypt in 2015 announced the alteration of the fuels used in cement plants without the least regard to minimizing the environmental burden (EB) excesses. This study conducts a life-cycle assessment (LCA) of Egyptian cement-manufacturing unit, which is considered as the first one on LCA cement analysis to be conducted in Egypt. This study investigates the LCA of the cement industry in Egypt compared to the Swiss industry, using two methodologies. The first one has been done on-site, surveying the most common types of cement used in the construction industry in Egypt. Meanwhile, SimaPro software has been used to assess the environmental impacts, and three different cement plants were selected for this study: an Egyptian cement plant (ECP) which uses electricity, natural gas, and diesel as energy sources; a Swiss cement plant (SCP) which depends mainly on electricity, natural gas, and coal; and an Egyptian hypothetical plant (EHP) in which electricity and coal are assumed to be the main energy feeds, and comparisons of different strategies including midpoint and endpoint methods are outlined. Regarding the midpoint method, ETP recorded higher respiratory inorganics, aquatic acidification, global warming, and nonrenewable energy impacts than ECP, because of using coal, while for SCP, global warming and respiratory inorganics achieved the highest adverse impacts compared to ECP and EHP—due to the different manufacturing technology used. With regard to the endpoint method, the peak possibility of human health deterioration has been recorded due to the use of coal as fuel. This possibility was reduced by 46 % in the case of SCP as a result of the technology applied, which interestingly represents a reasonable reduction in terms of technological application.     

LPG explosion damage of a reinforced concrete building: A case study in Sanliurfa,Turkey

Around the morning EET of 17 June 2011, at Karakopru town of Sanliurfa in Turkey, a LPG explosion at a petrol station took place and as a result of this explosion 1 person was died and 21 people were seriously wounded. The in situ investigation revealed that the explosion was originated by the ignition of an explosive atmosphere that had formed at the basement space of the building due to the LPG leakage. Although it is considered the risk of LPG release to be low, the potential consequences of such a leak is devastating. In the present study, the interesting damages of RC members and their mechanisms in the building exposed to the explosion were explained in conjunction with photos and drawings. Damages observed were so interesting that, they were far beyond the imagination of anyone. It is considered that the presented damages and their mechanisms will give a new insight to the people interested in explosion damages.     

Off-site toxic consequence assessment: a simplified modeling procedure and case study

The new "Hazardous Waste Management Regulation" was published in the Official Newspaper of the Chilean Republic on 12 June 2003, being in force 365 days after its publication (i.e., 12 June 2004). During the next 180 days after its publication (i.e., until 12 December 2004), each industrial facility was obligated to present a "Hazardous Waste Management Plan" if the facility generates more than 12 ton/year hazardous wastes or more than 12 kg/year acute toxic wastes. Based on the Chilean industrial figures and this new regulation, hazardous waste management plans were carried out in three facilities of the most important sectors of Chilean industrial activity: a paper production plant, a Zn and Pb mine and a sawmill and wood remanufacturing facility. Hazardous wastes were identified, classified and quantified in all facilities. Used oil and oil-contaminated materials were determined to be the most important hazardous wastes generated. Minimization measures were implemented and re-use and recycling options were analyzed. The use of used oil as alternative fuel in high energy demanding facilities (i.e., cement facilities) and the re-refining of the used oil were found to be the most suitable options. In the Zn and Pb mine facility, the most important measure was the beginning of the study for using spent oils as raw material for the production of the explosives used for metals recovery from the rock. In Chile, there are three facilities producing alternative fuels from used oil, while two plants are nowadays re-refining oil to recycle it as hydraulic fluid in industry. In this sense, a proper and sustainable management of the used oil appears to be promissory.     

Applying a risk assessment approach for cost analysis and decision-making: a case study for a basic design engineering project

Abstract

Many uncertainties and cost variations occur in the work activities of a project, thereby causing many possibilities of under-estimating or over-estimating for a bid price. A comprehensive study for each process of risk management should be investigated to achieve project objectives. However, a limited number of studies have a comprehensive viewpoint to indicate the benefits of risk management and the effect on project performance for the engineering design stage of engineering–procurement–construction (EPC) projects, especially in the basic design stage. This research was conducted to identify and analyze the risks associated with a Basic Design Engineering (BDE) project for a high value-added petrochemical plant in Taiwan. First, a project risk management work flow was proposed as an effective tool to minimize the project risks and maximize the management capacity of practitioners. Second, the cost effect of project risks was described by conducting a case study for the design process of a high value-added petrochemical plant using a Monte Carlo simulation. A risk register was identified to support the data required for conducting simulation analysis. The results of this paper provide reference points for risk management planning of project execution and help project managers evaluate particular risks at the engineering design stage of EPC projects to avoid cost overruns.     

Reliability assessment of fire safety systems in railway industry: a case study

Within the framework of railroad transportation systems, there are currently system rooms where critical systems such as signalization are available. For the system to achieve an uninterrupted mode of operation, it is crucial to mitigate risks or hazards against the rooms and to ensure an acceptable level of safety. This study handles the protection of a system room, owned by Istanbul Ula??m A.?. Edirnekap? branch, against an incident of fire as a safety-related system practice. Within this scope, the fire safety system has been handled as a safety-related system identified in IEC 61508. The safety integrity level required by the safety lifecycle for the relevant system has also been identified and safety functions that are required to be implemented have been put forth. Taking IEC 61508 as a reference for the functions, the required analyses have been performed through fault tree analysis. It has also been guaranteed that the relevant functions have met the required safety levels.     

A study on the failure of pump casings made of ductile Ni-resist cast irons used in desalination plants

There have been cases of the corrosion failure of pressure parts of brine pumps in a desalination plant located on Arabian Gulf. The materials of the construction of failed parts are Ni-Resist Ductile Irons (NDI) and the environment is brine, which is concentrated seawater. Two brands of pumps had different lives to total failure; one lived 18 years while the other lasted only five years. The failed parts of former pumps were made out of NDI material as per ASTM A439 D2, whereas, the latter pumps were made out of NDI material as per BS 3468 S2W, which has better weldability. In this work, the material factor, as one of the possible factors that could have contributed to this different behavior has been evaluated. Metallurgical, mechanical and electrochemical tests were used to compare between the two alloys. Results have shown variations in the microstructure, tensile strength and hardness values of both alloys. However, electrochemical tests have shown similar corrosion rates between 0.20 and 0.25 mmpy in brine at room temperature, whereas, potentiodynamic sweeps have shown comparable Tafel plots.     

Development of a poultice for electrochemical desalination of porous building materials: desalination effect and pH changes

Salt induced deterioration of structures and stones are generally recognized as a frequent and serious problem. The deterioration is especially undesired in relation to cultural heritage as it is impossible to recreate original material (e.g. original murals). By presence of salts in decorated vaults two different techniques are applied: poultices or establishment of climate chambers. Both techniques can result in ion transport away from the valuable surfaces with murals, but satisfying desalination has not been obtained according to conservators from the Danish National Museums mural preservation section in consistence with the present available literature. In the present paper the possibility for salt removal by utilizing a well known and accepted transport process, electromigration, is investigated, i.e. movement of ions in a solution in an applied electric DC field. An experimental laboratory setup was designed to approximate real conditions in vaults and with ion contents corresponding to normal heavily polluted church vaults (1.0 wt% Chloride, added as NaCl). During the electromigration process acid and base is produced at the electrodes due to electrode reactions and in a clarifying experiment with a traditional poultice significant pH changes and an absence of satisfying high desalination effect was measured. The new idea in the present paper was to introduce a calculated amount of buffer components corresponding to the productions during the electrode processes to a poultice (a solid) to minimize the adverse effects and to optimize on the effects. The results showed good ability to retain neutral pH values in the substrate which is of major importance when the method should be applied on existing structures. Also the desalination process continued until a very low and harmless salt content was reached after introduction of the buffer components.     

Key factors and considerations in the assessment of international collaboration: a case study for Austria and six countries

This bibliometric study on the collaboration of Austria and six target countries (Slovenia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Denmark, Switzerland and Israel) reveals the importance of differentiation between the bilateral and multilateral contingents in the assessment of international scientific collaboration. For this purpose a “degree of bilaterality” (DB) and a “citation degree of bilaterality” (CDB) are introduced. In our findings the DB and the CDB have values lower than 1/3 and 1/5, respectively. Therefore, the total collaboration is mostly shaped in its volume and impact by the multilateral contingent. Regarding the impact estimation of the collaboration publication output, a multi-faceted approach was used. It is recommended to separately analyze the following three aspects: the un-cited range, the average range and the excellence range. Considering different country specific parameters the total number of publications and citations were resized for each type of collaboration and the results discussed. Only a very weak correlation between ‘times cited’ and the number of affiliations or authors was observed at publication level. Neither the number of authors or affiliations determines impact increase. Rather internationalisation and cooperation seem to be the crucial factors.     

Techno-economic assessment of bioethanol production from wheat straw: a case study of Iran

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - A process of ethanol production from wheat straw in Iran was simulated using SuperPro Designer. Wheat is the main cereal crop in Iran. Khuzestan...     

Collaboration network and pattern analysis: case study of dye-sensitized solar cells

Nowadays, the development of emerging technology has become a double-edged sword in the scientific world. It can not only bring lots of innovation to society, but may also cause some terrible consequences due to its unknown factors. International collaboration may be able to reduce risks, which means a lot to the exploration of the emerging technology. Taking dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) as an example, this paper examines the rapid growth of Chinese DSSCs research and the rise of collaboration between China and other countries/region. We use bibliometric and social network analysis methods to explore the patterns of scientific collaboration at country, institution and individual levels using data from the Science Citation Index. Examining overall trends shows that China has increased her position in DSSCs around the world. Furthermore, by focusing on the individual level, we find that the most influential authors tend to have fixed co-author networks and author name order, which is something worth considering. We use co-author analysis software independently developed to check three kinds of fixed co-author networks to explore author contributions, influence, and Author Activity Index rank in collaboration networks and use the rank we calculated to further explain author contributions in the networks. Results show that Chinese-X (e.g., Chinese-American) authors have pushed the collaboration between country and country and almost every kind of small network has a top author in it to gather others together. The modified author activity index rank list may reflect real research level. Author collaboration patterns have been impacted by the kinds of their institutions to some degree. These results can undoubtedly promote the international collaboration and the innovation process in the similar emerging technology fields.     

A model of energy management analysis,case study of a sugar factory in Turkey

This study presents a case study of energy management in a sugar factory in Turkey. The main idea of the study is to analyse energy consumption, the quantity of material production, and figure out a suitable energy efficiency for the case study of a sugar factory subsequently. Firstly, a material production and energy consumption audit were performed for the sugar factory. Secondly, energy efficiency was calculated from the energy data. The SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) statistical software was used to ensure the accuracy of the data. The factory’s energy consumption was calculated as 43,590.25 toe (tons of oil equivalent) over the last year. These results were used for CUSUM (Cumulative Sum Deviation Method) graphics. This research poses the consumption of energy, cost of energy and the relationship between energy usage and material production of sugar. The unit of energy cost was 688.22 [$/toe] for the last year. This result showed that the factory decreased the unit of energy by optimisation. The results indicated that the investigated sugar factory should pay attention to the energy management issue in order to comply with the Energy Efficiency of Turkish Law and Directives.