Life-cycle assessment of electricity from biomass: Case studies of two biocrops in Spain

Through the Renewable Energies Plan 2000–2010, Spain has fixed the objective of covering 12% of the primary energy demand from renewable sources. The achievement of this objective implies an annual increase of 22.4% of the energy produced from renewable sources. In this context, the objective of this study is to determine if the electricity from biomass produced in Spain would be environmentally competitive with electricity from natural gas or from the Spanish electricity mix. For that, the environmental impacts associated to the whole life cycle of two energetic crops in Spain, Poplar and Ethiopian mustard, used for power generation were evaluated. The overall assessment includes the cultivation and collection of biomass, its transport and the processes of its energetic transformation. We calculated different scenarios of electricity production from biomass in different capacity power plants (10, 25 or 50 MW), different transport scenarios and different productivities for biomass production. Our results show that, given the assumptions of this study, Ethiopian mustard is more impacting than Poplar when used for electricity production. Also, the transportation of biomass from the field to the power plant is an important stage that has to be carefully planned in order to get the maximum amount of electricity with a minimum environmental impact. Compared to electricity from natural gas or the Spanish electricity mix, the electricity obtained from biomass is more impacting in three from six impact categories we present here.     

Flax fibers as a raw material: How to bleach efficiently a non-woody plant to obtain high-quality pulp

Fiber crops constitute a good alternative to wood fiber for manufacturing pulp and paper. In fact, fiber plants like flax surpass wood fiber in some technical respects and also in the environmental benignity of their processing. In this work, flax fiber was subjected to environmentally friendly bleaching sequences in order to obtain a high-quality pulp. The totally chlorine-free sequences (TCF) used for this purpose (LE and LRE) included an enzyme treatment with laccase in the presence of HBT as mediator (L stage), an alkaline extraction (E stage) and a reductive treatment with NaBH₄ (R stage). The operating conditions for the L stage (laccase and HBT doses, reaction time and oxygen pressure) were optimised by using a sequential statistical plan to assess their influence on pulp properties after the E stage.Mathematical models accurately predicting brightness and kappa number in terms of the previous four variables were developed based on which the most influential factors were the laccase and HBT rates, and treatment time. By contrast, oxygen pressures of 0.2–0.6 MPa in the reactor had no effect on brightness or kappa number. The flax pulp obtained contained some oxidized cellulose that was partially degraded in the alkaline extraction step and reduced viscosity as a result. The viscosity loss associated with the presence of oxidized cellulose in the control and enzyme-treated pulp samples was efficiently recovered by using a reductive stage with sodium borohydride. Effluent was also analysed in order to assess the environmental impact of the process.     

Stability of the lipid fraction of milk‐based infant formulas during storage

A study is made of the effects of storage (time and temperature) on the lipid fraction of four milk‐based adapted infant formulas with basically the same composition, though differing in the iron salt added (lactate or sulfate) and/or the vitamin E source (α‐tocopherol or α‐tocopherol acetate). Peroxide value, hydroperoxide C₁₈ percentage and thiobarbituric acid‐reactive substance (TBARS) content were used as indicators of lipid peroxidation. Fat contents remained stable throughout storage. Peroxide values increased from the first storage month and were affected by storage time, although they exhibited irregular behavior. Storage time and temperature affected hydroperoxide percentage, which was seen to be the earliest indicator of lipid oxidation, being measurable in newly manufactured formulas. TBARS values were only affected by storage time. No statistically significant differences were found among the four infant formulas for any of the lipid oxidation indicators.     

Remarks on the use of Boltzmann's equation for electrical conduction calculations in metal matrix and in situ composites

The Boltzmann equation and its solutions are cental to the development of microscopic models describing the longitudinal and transverse electrical conductivity of metal matrix and in situ composites. Such solutions are needed to describe electron and phonon scattering and transport phenomena in the matrix due to the presence of a second filamentary phase, and to describe electrical conductivity at cryogenic and higher temperatures. In this paper, we derive solutions to the Boltzmann equation in the relaxation time approximation in cylindrical coordinates. It is shown that one solution for the electric field parallel to the fibre direction leads to an expression for composite conductivity at cryogenic and higher temperatures. We also present a solution for the case in which the electric field is normal to the fibre direction.     

A Simple Method to Solve Some Simple Allocation Problems

The paper discusses a classical resource allocation problem. Using elementary arguments on Lagrangian duality it is shown that this problem can be reduced to a single one-dimensional maximization of a differentiable concave function. Moreover, a simple graphical method is developed and applied to a family of well-known problems from the literature.     

Effect of treatment with α‐galactosidase,tannase or a cell‐wall‐degrading enzyme complex on the nutritive utilisation of protein and carbohydrates from pea (Pisum sativum L.) flour

The effect of treatment with α‐galactosidase, tannase or a cell‐wall‐degrading enzyme complex under optimal conditions of pH, temperature and length of incubation time on the chemical composition and nutritive utilisation of protein and carbohydrates from pea (Pisum sativum L.) flour was studied. Soaking of pea flours in combination with enzyme treatment led to reductions of 77–90% in the levels of α‐galactosides, and of 60–80% in the levels of trypsin inhibitor activity, increasing the content of total available sugars, which was highest in the pea flour treated with the cell‐wall‐degrading enzyme complex. All the treatments assayed caused a significant improvement in daily food intake, whereas the nutritive utilisation of protein was not increased in any of the pea products tested when compared to the raw pea flour. However, all the soaking and enzymatic treatments led to a significant improvement in daily weight gain associated with a higher dietary intake of food and total available sugars. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry     

Model of transverse electrical conductivity of metal matrix composites above liquid nitrogen temperatures

The present theories of transverse electrical conductivity of metal matrix composites (MMCs) containing nonconducting continuous cylindrical fibres are inadequate to predict experimental measurements. In this paper, we present a model of transverse electrical conductivity that predicts experimental data reasonably well for the case of an MMC material reinforced with nonconducting or poorly conducting continuous fibres. lt is based on the concept that transverse conductivity consists of two contributions: the electrical resistivity of the bulk material modified by periodic variations in the bulk cross-section due to the presence of nonconducting fibres; and a disturbance in electron transport due to nonuniformity in the electric field, caused by the presence of the fibres, that extends some distance away from and all around the fibres. To calculate this nonuniformity, we use the well-known solution of the potential field for a conducting cylinder in a uniform electric field and invert it so that it becomes a problem of nonconducting filaments in a conducting matrix. This gives a value of the transverse electrical resistivity for boron/aluminium (B/Al) containing 60 vol% fibre in nearly exact agreement with experimental data. The theory is compared to a modified capacitance model developed by Keller [1] for dielectric materials. The model discussed in this paper does not predict the trans-verse electrical resistivity of MMCs reinforced with very small-diameter fibres (Gr/Al, Al₂O₃, etc.) where the fibres are randomly distributed in a plane normal to their longitudinal axis. This problem will be discussed in a companion paper.     

Structural Determinants of the Selectivity of 3‐Benzyluracil‐1‐acetic Acids toward Human Enzymes Aldose Reductase and AKR1B10

The human enzymes aldose reductase (AR) and AKR1B10 have been thoroughly explored in terms of their roles in diabetes, inflammatory disorders, and cancer. In this study we identified two new lead compounds, 2‐(3‐(4‐chloro‐3‐nitrobenzyl)‐2,4‐dioxo‐3,4‐dihydropyrimidin‐1(2H)‐yl)acetic acid (JF0048, 3 ) and 2‐(2,4‐dioxo‐3‐(2,3,4,5‐tetrabromo‐6‐methoxybenzyl)‐3,4‐dihydropyrimidin‐1(2H)‐yl)acetic acid (JF0049, 4 ), which selectively target these enzymes. Although 3 and 4 share the 3‐benzyluracil‐1‐acetic acid scaffold, they have different substituents in their aryl moieties. Inhibition studies along with thermodynamic and structural characterizations of both enzymes revealed that the chloronitrobenzyl moiety of compound 3 can open the AR specificity pocket but not that of the AKR1B10 cognate. In contrast, the larger atoms at the ortho and/or meta positions of compound 4 prevent the AR specificity pocket from opening due to steric hindrance and provide a tighter fit to the AKR1B10 inhibitor binding pocket, probably enhanced by the displacement of a disordered water molecule trapped in a hydrophobic subpocket, creating an enthalpic signature. Furthermore, this selectivity also occurs in the cell, which enables the development of a more efficient drug design strategy: compound 3 prevents sorbitol accumulation in human retinal ARPE‐19 cells, whereas 4 stops proliferation in human lung cancer NCI‐H460 cells.     

Evaluation of Using LaNi0.6Fe0.4O3–δ Contact Layer Between La0.6Sr0.4FeO3 Cathode and Crofer22APU Interconnect for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Interconnect‐cathode interfacial adhesion is important for the durability of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). Thus, the use of a conductive contact layer between interconnect and cathode could reduce the cell area specific resistance (ASR). The use of La_0.6Sr_0.4FeO₃ (LSF) cathode, LaNi_0.6Fe_0.4O_3–δ (LNF) contact layer and Crofer22APU interconnect was proposed as an alternative cathode side. LNF‐LSF powder mixtures were heated at 800 °C for 1,000 h and at 1,050 °C for 2 h and analyzed by X‐Ray power diffraction (XRD). The results indicated a low reactivity between the materials. The degradation occurring between the components of the half‐cell (LSF/LNF/Crofer22APU) was studied. XRD results indicated the formation of secondary phases, mainly: SrCrO₄, A(B, Cr)O₃ (A = La, Sr; B = Ni, Fe) and SrFe₁₂O₁₉. Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X‐Ray spectroscopy (SEM‐EDX) and the X‐Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyzes confirmed the interaction between LSF/LNF and the metallic interconnect due to the Cr vaporization/migration. An increment of the resistance of ∼0.007 Ω cm² in 1,000 h is observed for (LSF/LNF/Crofer22APU) sample. However, the ASR values of the cell without contact coating, (LSF/Crofer22APU), were higher (0.31(1) Ω cm²) than those of the system with LNF coated interconnect (0.054(7) Ω cm²), which makes the proposed materials combination interesting for SOFC.     

Devolatilization of wood and wastes in fluidized bed

Experiments were carried out in a laboratory fluidized bed (FB) to characterize the devolatilization behavior of wood and various wastes at temperatures applicable to FB gasification and combustion, i.e. 750-900 °C. The fuels tested were pellets made of wood, meat and bone meal, and compost (from municipal solid wastes), as well as dried granulates of sewage sludge (DSS). Determination of yields of char, condensate and light gas, as well as the composition of the gas and the time of devolatilization during the pyrolysis of single fuel batches was made. A simple model was developed to analyze the mode of conversion of a single wood pellet and DSS granulate, giving insight on the controlling mechanisms during devolatilization. The devolatilization kinetics of DSS was determined by tests using fine granulates. The model was successfully applied to simulate the conversion of large DSS granulates and wood pellets under the whole range of temperatures analyzed.