An economic and environmental assessment of biomass utilization in lignite‐fired power plants of Greece

The environmental and socio‐economic impacts of biomass utilization by co‐firing with brown coal in an existing thermoelectric unit in Greece or through its pure combustion in a new plant were studied and evaluated in this work. The 125 MW_e lignite‐fired power plant in Ptolemais Power Station (Western Macedonia) was used as reference system. The environmental benefits of the alternative biomass exploitation options were quantified based on the life cycle assessment methodology, as established by SETAC, while the BIOSEM technique was used to carry out socio‐economic calculations. The obtained results showed clear environmental benefits of both biomass utilization alternatives in comparison with the reference system. In addition, co‐firing biomass with lignite in an existing unit outperforms the combustion of biomass exclusively in a new plant, since it exhibits a better environmental performance and it is a low risk investment with immediate benefits. A biomass combustion unit requires a considerably higher capital investment and its benefits are more evident in the long run. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Microstress estimate of stochastically heterogeneous structures by the functional perturbation method: A one dimensional example

A new functional perturbation method (FPM) for calculating the probabilistic response of stochastically heterogeneous, linear elastic structures is developed. The method is based on treating the governing differential operator as well as the unknown displacement function as a functional of material modulus field. By executing a functional perturbation around the homogeneous case, a set of successive differential equations is obtained and solved, from which the average and variance of any local parameter (displacements, stresses, strains) can be found. For a linear problem, the equations to be solved in each approximation order differ from the one for the homogeneous case by a pseudo external loading (right hand side) part only. Thus, only the Green function for the homogeneous case is needed for an analytical solution of the corresponding heterogeneous problem. A one dimensional stochastically heterogeneous rod embedded in a uniform shear resistant elastic medium is solved as an example. The statistical variance of displacements and stresses are found analytically, including the edge regions. Morphological (grain size) and material (modulus) effects on the stochastic response are demonstrated. The above results are essential for estimating the stochastic features of local stress concentrations, which are the source for many strength-related macro properties of materials. Extensive usage of generalized functions (Dirac operator and its derivatives) is needed for the analysis.     

超临界流体中的酶催化

与其他非水相酶催化介质相比 ,超临界流体有其独特的优越性。阐述了超临界流体的概念、对超临界流体的选择原则以及在超临界流体中酶催化的各种影响因素 ,还讨论了在此类流体中酶催化的应用和发展前景     

炼制进口原油常减压装置的腐蚀问题

胜利炼油厂第三常减压装置改炼进口高硫原油或进口原油掺炼陆上原油后 ,设备腐蚀明显加重 ,致使换热器E2 4/ 1和空冷器A1/ 1腐蚀率高达 2 .5mm/a。腐蚀加重的主要原因是由于原油脱后盐含量偏高 ( 10～ 2 0mg/L)、硫含量高 ( 1.5 %～ 2 .5 % )所造成的塔顶及其冷凝冷却系统H2 S -HCl-H2 O环境的腐蚀 ,高温重油部位则主要是环烷酸引起的腐蚀。同时提出了改造电脱盐系统、优化原油调配和加强注剂管理等一系列措施     

Media ratings for violence and sex: Implications for policymakers and parents.

This article reviews research on the implementation of media-rating systems, parents' use and evaluation of them, and the impact of ratings on children. Although half or more of parents report using media-rating systems, understanding of various components of the systems is low, particularly for television ratings. A meta-analysis of national polls shows that parents overwhelmingly prefer that ratings specify content, rather than giving age recommendations. A second meta-analysis, of experiments testing the effects of ratings on children's interest in programs, shows that ratings indicating restricted or controversial content have a deterrent effect for children under age 8 but that, by age 11 and especially for boys, the ratings show a small enticement effect. This effect occurs for both age-based and content-based ratings. Implications for policymakers and parents are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

分形理论在固体吸附式制冷系统中的应用研究

固体吸附式制冷系统中吸附剂一般是多孔介质结构，吸附剂的内部结构特征对传热特性和吸附质的传质特性有直接影响，进而影响吸附解吸时间。本文探讨利用分形理论来分析固体吸附剂的结构特点，为目前通过对吸附剂的固化处理来提高吸附剂的传热速率的处理方法提供理论上的分析，并指出最佳分形维数的分形结构。     

The role of forest and bioenergy strategies in the global carbon cycle

Forest and bioenergy strategies offer the prospect of reduced CO₂ emissions to the atmosphere. Such strategies can affect the net flux of carbon to the atmosphere through 4 mechanisms: storage of C in the biosphere; storage of C in forest products; use of biofuels to displace fossil-fuel use; use of wood products which often displaces other products that require more fossil fuel for their production. We use the mathematical model GORCAM (Graz/Oak Ridge Carbon Accounting Model) to examine these mechanisms for 16 land-use scenarios. Over long time intervals the amount of C stored in the biosphere and in forest products reaches a steady state and continuing mitigation of C emissions depends on the extent to which fossil fuel use is displaced by the use of bioenergy and wood products. The relative effectiveness of alternative forest and bioenergy strategies and their impact on net C emissions strongly depend, for example, on the productivity of the site, its current usage, and the efficiency with which the harvest is used. When growth rates are high and harvest is used efficiently, the dominant opportunity for net reduction in C emissions is seen to be fossil-fuel displacement. At the growth rates and efficiencies of harvest utilization adopted in many of our base scenarios, the net C balance at the end of 100 years is very similar whether trees are harvested and used for energy and traditional forest products, or reforestation and forest protection strategies are implemented. The C balance on a plantation system that provides a constant output of biomass products can look different than the balance of a single parcel of land.     

Application of Acoustic Wave Propagation Analysis Methods for Monitoring a Miscible Mixing Zone in Porous Media

The Biot's acoustics theory, which describes acoustic wave propagation in a porous medium, and computer simulation techniques were utilized to model the behavior of acoustic waves entering and leaving a mixing zone in a miscible displacement in porous media. The results indicate that the angles of waves produced by a mixing zone are equal to angles of waves produced by an abrupt fluid-fluid interface. Therefore, acoustic methods and a relationship between the incident, reflection, and transmission angles can be used to determine the location and thickness of the mixing zone during a miscible displacement process in porous media.     

Gasification reactivity of charcoal with CO2. Part I: Conversion and structural phenomena

The gasification reaction of fir charcoal with CO₂ was studied by isothermal thermogravimetric analysis under kinetic control. The derived reaction rate (r=dX/dt) as a function of the converted carbon mass (X) was compared with random pore model predictions and found to be much higher at elevated conversion levels than predicted by theory. Similar enhanced reaction rate behaviour was evidenced after removing the natural alkali catalyst from the charcoal by acid washing, suggesting that with untreated charcoal the late reaction rate contribution stems from both, catalytic and additional structure effects. Literature attributes the unpredicted late reaction rate behaviour to the disintegration of the porous char particle into small fragments, which, in line with percolation theory predictions, seems to occur only after a critical conversion level has been reached. However, our gasification data reveal a gradual rise in the charcoal reactivity thereafter, suggesting a breaking up (embrittlement) of the solid phase accompanied by the exposure of fresh surface area from fracturing. The original random pore model derivation given by Bhatia and Perlmutter is extended to account also for these peculiarities and the resulting kinetic relation described our reaction rate data well over the entire conversion range.     

Optimized Schwarz methods without overlap for highly heterogeneous media

In this paper an original variant of the Schwarz domain decomposition method is introduced for heterogeneous media. This method uses new optimized interface conditions specially designed to take into account the heterogeneity between the sub-domains on each sides of the interfaces. Numerical experiments illustrate the dependency of the proposed method with respect to several parameters, and confirm the robustness and efficiency of this method based on such optimized interface conditions. Several mesh partitions taking into account multiple cross points are considered in these experiments.