Decentralised cooling in district heating network: Monitoring results and calibration of simulation model

This article presents the monitoring results of a thermally driven chiller (TDC) driven by district heat from a network supplied by a centralised combined heat and power (CHP) fired with municipal waste. The main objective of this article is to analyse the monitoring results obtained from the demonstration and calibrate a system model that is later used for parametric studies in order to find improved system design and control. The calibration of the system model was made in three stages and all the energy performance figures were within 4% of the measured values. Results show that the TDC system is capable of providing maximum thermal and electrical COP's of 0.50 and 4.6 respectively during the hottest period. For the complete monitoring period during the summer of 2008, the figures were 0.41 and 2.1. The lower figures were due to continuous pump operation inside the TDC even during periods of no cold production and a period when no cold was produced. However the internal pumps inside the TDC have been removed in the new version TDC to increase the electrical COP. System simulation and parametric studies will be employed to further determine how the electrical COP can be improved.     

Life cycle energy efficiency and potentials of biodiesel production from palm oil in Thailand

Biodiesel production from palm oil has been considered one of the most promising renewable resources for transportation fuel in Thailand. The objective of this study was to analyze the energy performance and potential of the palm oil methyl ester (PME) production in Thailand. The PME system was divided into four stages: the oil palm plantation, transportation, crude palm oil (CPO) production, and transesterification into biodiesel. The results showed that the highest fossil-based energy consumption was in the transesterification process, followed by the plantation, transportation, and CPO production.     

Thermally driven cooling coupled with municipal solid waste-fired power plant: Application of combined heat,cooling and power in tropical urban areas

Energy recovery from flue gases in thermal treatment plants is an integral part of municipal solid waste (MSW) management for many industrialized nations. Often cogeneration can be employed for both enhancing the plant profitability and increasing the overall energy yield. However, it is normally difficult to justify traditional cogeneration in tropical locations since there is little need for the heat produced. The main objective of this article is to investigate the opportunities and potentials for various types of absorption technologies driven by MSW power plants for providing both electricity and cooling. Results show that cogeneration coupling with thermally driven cooling is sustainably and economically attractive for both electricity and cooling production. The thermally driven cooling provides significant potential to replace electrically driven cooling: such systems are capable of providing cooling output and simultaneously increasing electricity yield (41%). The systems are also capable of reducing the fuel consumption per unit of cooling in comparison with conventional cooling technology: a reduction of more than 1 MW_fuel/MW_cooling can be met in a small unit. MSW power plant coupled with thermally driven cooling can further reduce CO₂ emissions per unit of cooling of around 60% as compared to conventional compression chiller and has short payback period (less than 5 years).     

Collagen arrangement in space of Disse correlates with fluid flow in normal and cirrhotic rat livers

Little is known about collagen arrangement in the space of Disse was related to the fluid flow both in normal and cirrhotic liver. We examined the changes in the arrangement of type‐I collagen in thioacetamide‐induced cirrhotic rat livers with immunohistochemistry and SEM after maceration of the noncollagenous tissues with NaOH. The sparse bundles of collagen fibers in the spaces of Disse were mostly elongated fibers with a disorganized arrangement in each nodule. They connected with the broad fibrous septa. Based on a comparison of the architecture of the collagen fibers and the established flow of fluid in the space of Disse, we hypothesize that the fluid in the space of Disse streams along collagen fibers in all directions to broad fibrous septa. The appearance of perinodular plexus in cirrhotic rat livers probably helps to reduce portal hypertension. Microsc. Res. Tech. 78:187–193, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Quantitative absorption spectroscopy of residual water vapor in high-purity gases: pressure broadening of the 1.39253-microm H2O transition by N2, HCl, HBr, Cl2, and O2

We determined the respective pressure-broadening coefficients of HCl, HBr, Cl2, and O2 (expressed relative to that of the reference gas N2) for the (v1,v2,v3)J(Ka,Kc) = (0,0,0)3(0,3) --> (1,0,1)2(0,2) rovibrational transition of H2 16O that occurs at 1.39253 microm. The experiment used a continuous-wave cavity ring-down spectroscopy analyzer to measure the peak absorption losses as a function of added moisture concentration. The measured pressure-broadening coefficients for HCl, HBr, Cl2, and O2 are, respectively, 2.76, 2.48, 1.39, and 0.49 times that of the N2 pressure-broadening coefficient, and detection limits for water vapor range from 0.22 nmol mol(-1) for O2 matrix gas to 2.3 nmol mol(-1) for HBr matrix gas. The degradation of the detection limit (relative to the N2 matrix gas) is ascribed to a pressure-broadening-induced reduction in peak absorption cross section and to elevated background loss from the matrix gas.