The dissolution of carbon-containing oxide refractories in melts

Imperial Users onl

Constant-Volume Carbonization of Biomass.

Ph.D. Thesis. University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa 2018

Segmentación de imagen por color basado en quorum sensing bacterial

Context: The visual system of the human being is capable of a high level of image processing and ex­traction of information; on the other hand, visual analysis is a primary tool in many decision-making processes. Therefore, we propose a color-segmenta­tion scheme in images, which seeks to functionally replicate this type of processes in order to identify in the images the relevant area for the estimation of the amount of oxygen inside furnaces.Method: Bio-inspired schemes of autonomous na­vigation support the algorithm. The system tries to imitate the behavior of the bacteria (artificial agents) when they move in an unknown environment in search of food, considering only the local readings of the environment. The objective is for the agents to move to the areas of interest, so we include Quorum Sensing (QS), which consists of the bacteria relea­sing additional information in the medium when a population threshold is exceeded, and this speeds up the convergence.Results: The system was successfully applied to segment a set of images from the interior of an industrial furnace. We apply segmentation of the area corresponding to the flame to a set of images taken inside the carbonization furnace, according to reference patterns. The area to be segmented is identified by the proposed QS algorithm. After re­moving the rest of the image, we used it to estimate the oxygen content from similarity measurements using the histogram and reference images. The re­sults show a reduction in the estimation errors with respect to the same process without the segmenta­tion of the image.Conclusions: Problems present in the images taken inside the furnace, such as slides and low contrast with the background, produce erroneous estima­tes of the oxygen level in the combustion process. We performed tests and could conclude that such errors can be reduced by pre-processing the images, in particular using the proposed algorithm to isolate the image area with the relevant information.Contexto: El sistema visual del ser humano es ca­paz de un elevado nivel de procesamiento de imá­genes y extracción de información; por otro lado, muchos procesos de toma de decisiones se soportan en el análisis visual como herramienta primaria. Se propone, por lo tanto, un esquema de segmentación de imágenes de acuerdo al color que busca replicar funcionalmente este tipo de procesos a fin de iden­tificar en imágenes el área relevante para la estima­ción de oxígeno al interior de hornos.Método: El algoritmo está soportado por esquemas bio-inpirados de navegación autónoma. El sistema trata de imitar el comportamiento de las bacterias (agentes artificiales) cuando se desplazan en un am­biente desconocido en busca de alimento, conside­rando solamente las lecturas locales del ambiente. El objetivo es que los agentes se muevan hacia las áreas de interés, proceso que se acelera por la in­clusión del Quorum Sensing (QS) que consiste en que las bacterias liberan información adicional en el medio cuando se supera un umbral poblacional, lo cual acelera la convergencia.Resultados: El sistema ha sido aplicado exitosamen­te para segmentar un conjunto de imágenes pro­venientes del interior de un horno industrial. A un conjunto de imágenes tomadas al interior del horno de carbonización se le aplica segmentación del área correspondiente a la flama de acuerdo a patrones de referencia. El área a segmentar se identifica median­te el algoritmo propuesto de QS. Luego de remover el resto de la imagen, ésta se utiliza para estimar el contenido de oxígeno a partir de medidas de si­milaridad utilizando el histograma e imágenes de referencia. Los resultados muestran una reducción en los errores de estimación con respecto al mismo proceso sin la segmentación de la imagen.Conclusiones: Problemas presentes en las imágenes reales tomadas al interior del horno, tales como co­rrimientos y bajo contraste con el fondo, inciden en estimaciones erróneas del nivel de oxígeno en el pro­ceso de combustión. Se ha demostrado que dichos errores pueden ser reducidos mediante pre-procesa­miento de las imágenes, en particular, utilizando el algoritmo propuesto para aislar el área de la imagen con la información relevante

List of Bureau of Mines publications and articles, January 1, 1965, to December 31, 1969, with subject and author index

"This compilation supplements the 50-year list of Bureau publications issued from July 1, 1910, to January 1, 1960; the 50-year list of articles by Bureau authors published outside the Bureau from July 1, 1910, to January 1, 1960; and the 5-year list of Bureau publications and articles published from January 1, 1960, to December 31, 1964. It includes all the material in the four annual lists of Bureau publications and articles for January 1, 1965, to December 31, 1968, as well as the Bureau publications and articles for 1969. More than 2,500 publications by Bureau authors published in the regular Bureau of Mines series, in scientific, technical, or trade journals, or in other media are listed and summarized; those available from the Bureau of Mines are indicated. Libraries which maintain files of Bureau publications are listed. Cooperative publications issued by organizations with which the Bureau conducted joint research are described. Patents issued to Bureau personnel are also listed, and instructions are given on how to apply for permission to use them. One of the outstanding features of this special publication is an exhaustive subject and author index." - NIOSHTIC-2NIOSHTIC no. 1000888719701171

List of Bureau of Mines publications and articles, January 1, 1960, to December 31, 1964 with subject and author index

The Bureau of Mines was establis4ed in the public interest to conduct inquiries and scientific and technologic investigations concerning mining and the preparation, treatment, and utilization of mineral substances; to promote health and safety in the mineral industries; to conserve mineral resources and prevent their waste; to further economic development; to increase efficiency in the mining, metallurgical, quarrying, and other mineral industries; and to inquire into the economic conditions affecting these industries. The organic act of the Bureau, as amended by Congress and approved February 25, 1913, made it the province and duty of the Bureau to "disseminate information concerning these subjects 'in such manner as will best carry out the purposes of this Act.\ue2\u20ac?In accordance with that directive, the Bureau reports the findings of its research and investigations in its own series of publications and also in articles that appear in scientific, technical, and trade journals; in proceedings of conventions and seminars; in reference books; and in other non-Bureau sources. The number of these reports, the wide range of subjects they cover, and the variety of mediums in which they appear make the kind of list and index presented in this special publication both necessary and valuable. This issue describes Bureau reports and articles published during the period January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1964. It supplements the 50-year list of Bureau publications issued from July 1, 1910, to January 1, 1960, and the 50-year list of articles by Bureau authors published outside the Bureau from July 1, 1910, to January 1, 1960. It supersedes the annual lists of Bureau publications and articles from January 1 to December 31, 1960, from January 1 to December 31, 1961, from January 1 to December 31, 1962, and from January 1 to December 31, 1963.7The leading general and technical libraries of the United States maintain files of the Bureau's publications. A list of these libraries appears immediately following this introduction

Advanced Technology of Waste Treatment

The protection of human health and the environment (representing the main reason for waste management), as well as the sustainable use of natural resources, requires chemical, biological, physical and thermal treatment of wastes. This refers to the conditioning (e.g., drying, washing, comminution, rotting, stabilization, neutralization, agglomeration, homogenization), conversion (e.g., incineration, pyrolysis, gasification, dissolution, evaporation), and separation (classification, direct and indirect (i.e., sensor-based) sorting) of all types of wastes to follow the principles of the waste hierarchy (i.e., prevention (not addressed by this issue), preparation for re-use, recycling, other recovery, and disposal). Longstanding challenges include the increase of yield and purity of recyclable fractions and the sustainable removal or destruction of contaminants from the circular economy.This Special Issue on “Advanced Technology of Waste Treatment” of Processes collects high-quality research studies addressing challenges on the broad area of chemical, biological, physical and thermal treatment of wastes

Selected Papers from 27th European Biomass Conference & Exhibition (EUBCE 2019)

This book draws together a small selection of full-length papers based on presentations given at the 27th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition held in Lisbon, Portugal in 2019. The topics covered, which reflect the breadth of the program of the EUBCE conference itself, include biomass sources, various aspects of technologies used for the conversion of biomass to bioproducts and bioenergy, as well as different approaches to assessing environmental impacts, which include case studies based on different technologies in use in a range of countries

Selected Papers from SDEWES 2017: The 12th Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems

EU energy policy is more and more promoting a resilient, efficient and sustainable energy system. Several agreements have been signed in the last few months that set ambitious goals in terms of energy efficiency and emission reductions and to reduce the energy consumption in buildings. These actions are expected to fulfill the goals negotiated at the Paris Agreement in 2015. The successful development of this ambitious energy policy needs to be supported by scientific knowledge: a huge effort must be made in order to develop more efficient energy conversion technologies based both on renewables and fossil fuels. Similarly, researchers are also expected to work on the integration of conventional and novel systems, also taking into account the needs for the management of the novel energy systems in terms of energy storage and devices management. Therefore, a multi-disciplinary approach is required in order to achieve these goals. To ensure that the scientists belonging to the different disciplines are aware of the scientific progress in the other research areas, specific Conferences are periodically organized. One of the most popular conferences in this area is the Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems (SDEWES) Series Conference. The 12th Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems Conference was recently held in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The present Special Issue of Energies, specifically dedicated to the 12th SDEWES Conference, is focused on five main fields: energy policy and energy efficiency in smart energy systems, polygeneration and district heating, advanced combustion techniques and fuels, biomass and building efficiency

Tobacco pyrolysis. Kinetic evaluation of thermogravimetric – mass spectrometric experiments.

The thermal decomposition of two tobacco blends was studied by thermogravimetry - mass spectrometry (TGA-MS) at slow heating programs under well defined conditions. The kinetic evaluation was based on a distributed activation energy model (DAEM) which is a suitable tool for complex materials of plant origin. Linear and non-linear (stepwise) heating programs were employed to obtain information for reliable kinetic modeling. Series of experiments were evaluated simultaneously by the method of least squares. Efforts were made to identify and describe kinetically the similarities between two, highly different tobacco samples as well as between the various mass spectrometric intensity curves. This was achieved by evaluating large series of experimental results and assuming several kinetic parameters to be common for both samples and/or a group of mass spectrometric intensities. The methods and considerations outlined in the paper may be helpful in the studies of biomass and other organic samples by a wider variety of experimental techniques including TGA-FTIR and time resolved pyrolysis