Occurrence and destruction of PAHs,PCBs, CIPhs,CIBzs, and PCDD/Fs in ash from gasification of straw

Two experiments were performed with an atmospheric circulating fluidized bed gasifier (ACFBG), the first with pelletized straw and the second with loose straw, to investigate the occurrence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), chlorophenols (CIPhs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated benzenes (ClBzs), polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) in the bottom ash and fly ash formed during gasification. Only PAHs were present in large amounts, and only in the fly ash, ranging from 300 to 555 mg/kg ash in the tests with pelletized straw and from 73 to 118 mg/kg ash in those with loose straw. These amounts are so high that environmentally safe disposal or reuse of the ash would be difficult, so the development of a technique to handle the problem was included in the project. The method investigated was to burn the fly ash in a circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler in order to destroy the PAHs. This worked surprisingly well, eliminating 99% of the PAHs, without any further formation of the other harmful organic compounds analyzed. Thus, this method could actually be useful in practice. Especially the fact that the formation of PCDD/Fs was minimal during gasification and further treatment of the ash in the CFB boiler makes the gasification technique highly competitive relative to conventional combustion methods.     

Effect of Oat Bran Fractions on Extrudates Made of Defatted Oats

Food and Bioprocess Technology - Oats are rich in dietary fibre (DF) especially in β-glucan which has several health-promoting effects. Oats are not commonly used in extruded snacks because...     

Effect of apartment building energy renovation on hourly power demand

ABSTRACT

Optimal energy renovations of apartment buildings in Finland have a great impact on annual energy demand. However, reduction of energy demand does not necessarily translate into similar changes in peak power demand. Four different types of apartment buildings, representing the Finnish apartment building stock, were examined after optimal energy retrofits to see the influence of retrofitting on hourly power demand. Switching from district heating to ground-source heat pumps reduced emissions significantly under current energy mix. However, the use of ground-source heat pumps increased hourly peak electricity demand by 46–153%, compared to district heated apartment buildings. The corresponding increase in electrical energy demand was 30–108% in the peak month of January. This could increase the use of high emission peak power plants and negate some of the emission benefits. Solar thermal collectors and heat recovery systems could reduce purchased heating energy to zero in summer. Solar electricity could reduce median power demand in summer, but had only a little effect on peak power demand. The reduction in peak power demand after energy retrofits was less than the reduction in energy demand.     

Preliminary study of lake dissolved organic matter in light of nanoscale supramolecular assembly

Large-scale preparative high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC) was performed to separate different molecular size fractions in milligram quantities from strongly colored dissolved organic matter (DOM) of a freshwater using a very mild conjugate acid-base pair (10 mM acetic acid-sodium acetate solution at pH 7.0 with an ionic strength of 6 x 10(-5)) as the mobile phase. The homogeneity-uniformity of different molecular size fractions in relation to their combined original mixture was verified by an analytical HPSEC system. In addition to molecular size distribution and basic spectroscopic characteristics, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was applied to specify structural features for different size fractions. The results demonstrate clearly that only a very small amount of conjugate organic acid-base pair is required to generate a powerful resolution for a DOM mixture, and very strong treatments with organic acids are not necessarily needed to reach a better SEC resolution. Most essential is the combined outcome of different HPSEC experiments and determined structural functionalities which indicate that almost all original DOM solutes are aggregated mixtures consisting of different associations possessing various molecular size ranges, which can be separated from their integrated whole as nearly homogeneous and uniform species. In summary, the present study strongly speaks for the need to direct the research of natural dissolved and colloidal organic carbon more strongly toward a nanoscale study of supramolecular assemblies. More precise knowledge about the primary, secondary, and tertiary structure of dissolved DOM constituents has its essential function, e.g., for environmental protection and utilization of surface waters.     

High levels of equol in organic skimmed Finnish cow milk

The isoflavonoids, equol, formononetin, daidzein, genistein, biochanin A, and O-demethylangolensin (O-DMA), were analyzed from commercial cartons of skimmed Finnish milk by HPLC-diode array detector (DAD)-FL. We found 411 +/- 65 ng/mL of equol and traces of formononetin and daidzein in organic skimmed milk whereas conventionally produced milk contained 62 +/- 16 ng/mL of equol and no formononetin or daidzein.     

Inaccurate prediction of retrieval in a face matrix learning task after right frontal lobe lesions.

This study partly supports the hypothesis that frontal lobe lesions cause impairment of metamemory. Fifty-nine patients with a focal brain lesion and 21 non-brain-damaged patients memorized a 4?×?4 matrix of 16 faces in 6 consecutive trials and predicted the number of locations of faces they would be able to remember before each retrieval. When age-related impairment of learning was adjusted, the patients with right posterior lesions were inferior to the controls and to the patients with right frontal lesions on the total number of correctly placed faces. The patients with right frontal lesions were less accurate than the patients with right posterior lesions or the controls in the prediction of retrieval. The inaccuracy of retrieval prediction in the face test was associated with that in a word-list learning task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inhabiting Time

In recent architecture, design has prioritised an engagement with time through its creation of temporary and highly flexible structures. There has, however, been less focus on how the design of buildings might impact the experience of time of the people who inhabit them. Here the distinguished author and emeritus professor Juhani Pallasmaa , who is renowned for his writings on the phenomenology of architecture, provides a reminder of the importance of what it means to ‘dwell in time’.     

Ubiquitous Machine-to-Machine Service Networks

In the near future,there will be many more embedded devices than there are mobile phones.When these devices are connected to the Internet,many novel kinds of ubiquitous service will be enabled.     

Towards a distinctive body of knowledge for Information Systems experts: coding ISD process knowledge in two IS journals

Abstract.  This paper introduces the idea of coding a practically relevant body of knowledge (BoK) in Information Systems (IS) that could have major benefits for the field. In its main part, the paper focuses on the question if and how an underlying body of action-oriented knowledge for IS experts could be distilled from the IS research literature. For this purpose the paper identifies five knowledge areas as the most important parts for an IS expert's BoK. Two of these are claimed as distinct areas of competence for IS experts: IS application knowledge and IS development (ISD) process knowledge. The paper focuses particularly on ISD process knowledge because it allows the organizing of practically relevant IS knowledge in an action-oriented way. The paper presents some evidence for the claim that a considerable body of practically relevant IS process knowledge might, indeed, exist, but also notes that it is highly dispersed in the IS literature. It then argues that the IS research community should take stock of this knowledge and organize it in an action-oriented way. Based on results from prior work it proposes a four-level hierarchical coding scheme for this purpose. In order to test the idea of coding action-oriented knowledge for IS experts, the paper reports the results of a coded literature analysis of ISD research articles published from 1996 to 2000 in two leading IS journals – Information Systems Journal and MIS Quarterly. The results suggest that ISD approaches form a useful framework for organizing practically relevant IS knowledge.     

Combined blowing with three ‐ hole lance in a sidewall blowing converter

Traditionally, in stainless steelmaking converters, oxygen has been blown by a one‐hole lance (1 HL) and sidewall tuyères. In order to reduce the tap‐to‐tap time, the multi‐hole lance has been used for oxygen blowing. The aim of this work was to develop blowing practise for a multi‐hole lance to reduce the tap‐to‐tap time and minimise metal splashing and spitting in the sidewall blowing converter (chromium converter). In the chromium converter the chemical energy of liquid ferrochrome (which contains 4 % silicon and 7 % carbon) is utilised for scrap melting by oxidising the silicon and the part of carbon. The research has been made by a dynamically scaled water model and full‐scale converter. Used parameters were the gas flowrate from sidewall tuyères and lance, lance height, charge weight and position of multi‐hole lance. Splashing has been measured during blowing from walls (splashing) and mouth of the converter model (spitting). The model tests indicated less splashing and spitting by the three‐hole lance (3 HL) than traditional 1 HL. The 1 HL caused strong skulling of the converter cone. By 3 HL blowing the position of the lance has a remarkable effect on the direction and the amount of splashing and lance life. Because of hot metal‐slag splashes, the life time of the 3 HL was halved by position 1 (compared to 1 HL). With the lance position 2 the splashing decreased by approx. 50% in model tests and lance life time increased by ~ 50% (compared to 1 HL) in the full‐scale converter. The model agreed well with the full‐scale converter. According to the process tests, the nominal productivity of the chromium converter has increased 15 % and depending on the refining practise and the silicon content of ferrochromium the lining life has increased 20 ‐ 30 %. In the future the multi‐hole lance will be tested in the AOD vessel.