16,312 research outputs found
California Methanol Assessment; Volume II, Technical Report
A joint effort by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering has brought together sponsors from both the public and private sectors for an analysis of the prospects for methanol use as a fuel in California, primarily for the transportation and stationary application sectors. Increasing optimism in 1982 for a slower rise in oil prices and a more realistic understanding of the costs of methanol production have had a negative effect on methanol viability in the near term (before the year 2000). Methanol was determined to have some promise in the transportation sector, but is not forecasted for large-scale use until beyond the year 2000. Similarly, while alternative use of methanol can have a positive effect on air quality (reducing NOx, SOx, and other emissions), a best case estimate is for less than 4% reduction in peak ozone by 2000 at realistic neat methanol vehicle adoption rates. Methanol is not likely to be a viable fuel in the stationary application sector because it cannot compete economically with conventional fuels except in very limited cases. On the production end, it was determined that methanol produced from natural gas will continue to dominate supply options through the year 2000, and the present and planned industry capacity is somewhat in excess of all projected needs. Nonsubsidized coal-based methanol cannot compete with conventional feedstocks using current technology, but coal-based methanol has promise in the long term (after the year 2000), providing that industry is willing to take the technical and market risks and that government agencies will help facilitate the environment for methanol.
Given that the prospects for viable major markets (stationary applications and neat fuel in passenger cars) are unlikely in the 1980s and early 1990s, the next steps for methanol are in further experimentation and research of production and utilization technologies, expanded use as an octane enhancer, and selected fleet implementation. In the view of the study, it is not advantageous at this time to establish policies within California that attempt to expand methanol use rapidly as a neat fuel for passenger cars or to induce electric utility use of methanol on a widespread basis
Independent Expert Scientific Panel â Report on Unconventional Oil and Gas
No abstract available
Gasification for Practical Applications
Although there were many books and papers that deal with gasification, there has been only a few practical book explaining the technology in actual application and the market situation in reality. Gasification is a key technology in converting coal, biomass, and wastes to useful high-value products. Until renewable energy can provide affordable energy hopefully by the year 2030, gasification can bridge the transition period by providing the clean liquid fuels, gas, and chemicals from the low grade feedstock. Gasification still needs many upgrades and technology breakthroughs. It remains in the niche market, not fully competitive in the major market of electricity generation, chemicals, and liquid fuels that are supplied from relatively cheap fossil fuels. The book provides the practical information for researchers and graduate students who want to review the current situation, to upgrade, and to bring in a new idea to the conventional gasification technologies
Risk analysis of LPG tanks at the wildland-urban interface
In areas of wildland-urban interface (WUI), especially residential developments, it is very
common to see liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tanks, particularly with a higher ratio of
propane, in surface installations serving homes. The most common tanks are between 1 and 5
m3 of capacity, but smaller ones of less than 1 m3 are more frequent. In case of accident,
installations may be subject to fires and explosions, especially in those circumstances where
legal and normative requirements allow very close exposure to flames from vegetable fuel
near LPG tanks.
In this project, it is intended to do a comprehensive diagnosis of the problem, addressing
the compilation of information on real risk scenarios in historical fires. First, a preliminary
presentation of the properties and characteristics of liquefied petroleum gas will be exposed.
Its physical and chemical properties, production methodology, pressure and temperature
diagrams and important considerations will be defined when using this type of substances in a
storage tank of a certain volume.
Next, a review of the situation of the existence of LPG tanks in the urban forest interfaces
will be exposed. In this case, the main accidents caused by problems with the storage of LPG
will be analyzed taking into account the relevance of BLEVE events in this type of incidents. To
do this, the main scenarios that could take place in the event of a fire will be presented.
Next, the existing legislation on the storage of LPG in these environments in some
Mediterranean countries will be studied. In order to develop a comprehensive analysis, the
main safety measures and distances will be considered, as well as the awareness of the
possibility of vegetation material in the vicinity of LPG storage tanks, which is the main
problem that will arise in a possible BLEVE scenario in case of fire. To finalize and facilitate
understanding, a comparative table will be included with the aim of visualizing the main
advantages and legislative deficiencies between the different countries.
Following, the state of the art in terms of modelling LPG accidents at the WUI will be
reviewed. Trying to simulate and predict this type of scenarios, it will see the models normally
chosen to obtain the tolerable values selected and the answers obtained in each case.
Finally, several fire scenarios will be simulated by means of a CFD tool (FDS, Fire Dynamics
Simulator). In these simulations, the wind velocity and the distance of the combustible vegetal
mass to the tank will be controlled in a WUI fire in which there is a tank of fixed dimensions.
The temperature and the heat flow in each of the scenarios will be obtained, and the
differences among the location of the sensors and the characteristics of the scenario will be
analyzed.
As a conclusion, it has been observed that there is a great amount of variables that are
not contemplated by the regulatory organisms and that the existing legislation does not
guarantee the safety of the population in this type of environment. From the simulations
results, variables as temperature should be studied for further characterizations
Transportation Systems Analysis and Assessment
The transportation system is the backbone of any social and economic system, and is also a very complex system in which users, transport means, technologies, services, and infrastructures have to cooperate with each other to achieve common and unique goals.The aim of this book is to present a general overview on some of the main challenges that transportation planners and decision makers are faced with. The book addresses different topics that range from user's behavior to travel demand simulation, from supply chain to the railway infrastructure capacity, from traffic safety issues to Life Cycle Assessment, and to strategies to make the transportation system more sustainable
Maintenance optimization in industry 4.0
This work reviews maintenance optimization from different and complementary points of view. Specifically, we systematically analyze the knowledge, information and data that can be exploited for maintenance optimization within the Industry 4.0 paradigm. Then, the possible objectives of the optimization are critically discussed, together with the maintenance features to be optimized, such as maintenance periods and degradation thresholds. The main challenges and trends of maintenance optimization are, then, highlighted and the need is identified for methods that do not require a-priori selection of a predefined maintenance strategy, are able to deal with large amounts of heterogeneous data collected from different sources, can properly treat all the uncertainties affecting the behavior of the systems and the environment, and can jointly consider multiple optimization objectives, including the emerging ones related to sustainability and resilience
Smart Grid Technologies in Europe: An Overview
The old electricity network infrastructure has proven to be inadequate, with respect to modern challenges such as alternative energy sources, electricity demand and energy saving policies. Moreover, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) seem to have reached an adequate level of reliability and flexibility in order to support a new concept of electricity networkâthe smart grid. In this work, we will analyse the state-of-the-art of smart grids, in their technical, management, security, and optimization aspects. We will also provide a brief overview of the regulatory aspects involved in the development of a smart grid, mainly from the viewpoint of the European Unio
Technico-economic evaluation of bitumen-coke integrated gasification combined cycle with COâ capture
Une étude de performance et de faisabilité économique a été menée avec pour objectif d'évaluer la possibilité de substituer la dépendance envers le gaz naturel, actuellement la source principale d'énergie, par une source moins noble et disponible en abondance pour la récupération et la mise en oeuvre de l'exploitation des sables bitumineux en Alberta. L'approche consiste à produire de l'énergie (chaleur et électricité) pour la récupération du bitume et de l'hydrogÚne essentiel pour les opérations d'hydrotraitement/hydrocraquage par l'intermédiaire d'une gazéification intégrée à un cycle combiné (IGCC) et dont l'alimentation est assumée par un combustible moins noble et moins coûteux que le gaz naturel. Il s'agit du coke de bitume qui est un sous-produit de cokéfaction. Dans cette étude, différentes configurations du complexe IGCC intégrant deux approches de capture /séquestration de CO2 ont été analysées. Dans la premiÚre, le CO2 est intercepté via un procédé Selexol d'absorption physique. Dans la seconde, le piégeage de CO2 est assuré par carbonatation minérale humide au moyen de saumures naturelles disponibles dans les aquifÚres avoisinants. Cette recherche consiste en l'analyse de l'efficacité énergétique d'une unité IGCC produisant 400 MW à partir de la gazéification du coke bitumineux et de l'évaluation des coûts de production de puissance, sous forme d'électricité et de chaleur, et d'hydrogÚne à partir d'une telle usine incluant des ßlots de capture/séquestration de CO2
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