A High-Definition Spatially Explicit Modeling Approach for National Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Industrial Processes: Reducing the Errors and Uncertainties in Global Emission Modeling

Spatially-explicit (gridded) emission inventories (EIs) should allow us to analyse sectoral emissions patterns to estimate potential impacts of emission policies and support decisions on reducing emissions. However, such EIs are often based on simple downscaling of national level emissions estimate and the changes in subnational emissions distributions are not necessarily reflecting the actual changes driven by the local emissions drivers. This article presents a high definition,100m resolution bottom-up inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the industrial processes (fuel combustion activities in energy and manufacturing industry, fugitive emissions, mineral products, chemical industry, metal production, food and drink) that is exemplified on data for Poland. We propose an improved emission disaggregation algorithmthat fully utilizes a collection of activity data available at national/provincial level to the level of individual point and diffused (area) emission sources. To ensure the accuracy of the resulting 100m emission fields, the geospatial data used for mapping emission sources (point source geolocation and land cover classification) were subject to thorough human visual inspection.The resulting 100m emission field even hold cadastres of emissions separately for each industrial emission category, while we start with IPCC-compliant national sectoral GHG estimates that we made using Polish official statistics. We aggregated the resulting emissions to the level of administrative units such as municipalities, districts and provinces. We also compiled cadastres in regular grids and then compared them with EDGAR results. Quantitative analysis of discrepancies between both results revealed quite frequent misallocations of point sources used in the EDGAR compilation that considerably deteriorates high resolution inventories. We also propose a Monte-Carlo method-based uncertainty assessment that yields a detailed estimation of the GHG emission uncertainty in the main categories of the analysed processes. We found that the above mentioned geographical coordinates and patterns used for emission disaggregation have the greatest impact on overall uncertainty of GHG inventoriesfrom the industrial processes

Data-driven Soft Sensors in the Process Industry

In the last two decades Soft Sensors established themselves as a valuable alternative to the traditional means for the acquisition of critical process variables, process monitoring and other tasks which are related to process control. This paper discusses characteristics of the process industry data which are critical for the development of data-driven Soft Sensors. These characteristics are common to a large number of process industry fields, like the chemical industry, bioprocess industry, steel industry, etc. The focus of this work is put on the data-driven Soft Sensors because of their growing popularity, already demonstrated usefulness and huge, though yet not completely realised, potential. A comprehensive selection of case studies covering the three most important Soft Sensor application fields, a general introduction to the most popular Soft Sensor modelling techniques as well as a discussion of some open issues in the Soft Sensor development and maintenance and their possible solutions are the main contributions of this work

2002 Fourteenth Annual IMSA Presentation Day

As you begin to turn the pages and learn about the extraordinary research work of IMSA\u27s young investigators, I hope you will begin to see what is possible.https://digitalcommons.imsa.edu/archives_sir/1023/thumbnail.jp

Assessing Kiln-Produced Hardwood Biochar for Improving Soil Health in a Temperate Climate Agricultural Soil

Soil quality has become a major factor used in assessing sustainable land management and the overall environmental quality, food security, and economic viability of agricultural lands. Recently, biochar has been touted as having many potential uses as a soil amendment for improving soil quality, specifically improving cation exchange capacity, pH and nutrient availability. However, soil biology also plays a significant role in biogeochemical processes that influence soil health and should be included in a more comprehensive study of soil health. This dissertation describes 4 projects within the same 3-year field study with the cumulative purpose of better understanding the effect that the application of a hardwood biochar has on soil health and quality. (1) The evaluation of a hardwood lump charcoal production by-product for use as a quality biochar amendment, tested the hypothesis that this byproduct has physical and chemical properties that fall within the range of quality biochar amendments as proposed by recent literature. (2) A three-year assessment of the changes to the soil chemical and physical properties as affected by the addition of the hardwood biochar to agricultural soils. Biochar application did not significantly affect sweet corn yield or quality. (3) A three-year assessment of the yield of sweet corn grown in the same biochar amended soils with and without added nitrogen fertilization also showed that a two percent by weight application of hardwood biochar improved yields of sweet corn, but greater application rates had a negative priming effect. Thus, testing the hypothesis that biochar would improve agronomic yields. In year three of this field study, nematode community assemblages were identified and compared in both the control and highest biochar treatments. Nematode communities were significantly different with maturity indices indicating greater temporal stability in the biochar-amended soils. The bacterial diversity of the control, two percent and four percent biochar-amended field soils were assessed using high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA and taxonomic assessment. While overall community diversity was not significantly affected, the abundance of specific bacterial taxa were significantly affected, indicating the potential for shifts in biogeochemical cycling in biochar-amended soils

A high-definition spatially explicit modelling approach for national greenhouse gas emissions from industrial processes: reducing the errors and uncertainties in global emission modelling

Industrial processes cause significant emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere and, therefore, have high mitigation and adaptation potential for global change. Spatially explicit (gridded) emission inventories (EIs) should allow us to analyse sectoral emission patterns to estimate the potential impacts of emission policies and support decisions on reducing emissions. However, such EIs are often based on simple downscaling of national level emission estimates and the changes in subnational emission distributions do not necessarily reflect the actual changes driven by the local emission drivers. This article presents a high-definition, 100-m resolution bottom-up inventory of GHG emissions from industrial processes (fuel combustion activities in energy and manufacturing industries, fugitive emissions, mineral products, chemical industries, metal production and food and drink industries), which is exemplified for data for Poland. The study objectives include elaboration of the universal approach for mapping emission sources, algorithms for emission disaggregation, estimation of emissions at the source level and uncertainty analysis. We start with IPCC-compliant national sectoral GHG estimates made using Polish official statistics and, then, propose an improved emission disaggregation algorithm that fully utilises a collection of activity data available at the national/provincial level to the level of individual point and diffused (area) emission sources. To ensure the accuracy of the resulting 100-m resolution emission fields, the geospatial data used for mapping emission sources (point source geolocation and land cover classification) were subject to thorough human visual inspection. The resulting 100-m emission field even holds cadastres of emissions separately for each industrial emission category. We also compiled cadastres in regular grids and, then, compared them with the Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR). A quantitative analysis of discrepancies between both results reveals quite frequent misallocations of point sources used in the EDGAR compilation that considerably deteriorate high-resolution inventories. We also use a Monte-Carlo method-based uncertainty assessment that yields a detailed estimation of the GHG emission uncertainty in the main categories of the analysed processes. We found that the above-mentioned geographical coordinates and patterns used for emission disaggregation have the greatest impact on the overall uncertainty of GHG inventories from the industrial processes. We evaluate the mitigation potential of industrial emissions and the impact of separate emission categories. This study proposes a method to accurately quantify industrial emissions at a policy relevant spatial scale in order to contribute to the local climate mitigation via emission quantification (local to national) and scientific assessment of the mitigation effort (national to global). Apart from the above, the results are also of importance for studies that confront bottom-up and top-down approaches and represent much more accurate data for global high-resolution inventories to compare with

The BG News December 5, 2003

The BGSU campus student newspaper December 5, 2003. Volume 94 - Issue 68https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/bg-news/8205/thumbnail.jp

Archaeological Investigations at Salterstown, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland

While American historical archaeologists have made significant progress in their investigations of early seventeenth century English colonies in North America, English colonies of the same period occurring elsewhere have been largely ignored. The archaeological investigation of alternative English colonial contexts is a necessary first step towards an anthropological study of comparative colonialism. Salterstown was a seventeenth century English colonial plantation village in Ulster, now buried beneath a dairy farm. Investigations at Salterstown include archival research, oral history interviews and archaeological excavations over three seasons of fieldwork. Research has monitored the degree of transplantation of English material culture into the Ulster plantations. Native Irish late-medieval survivals and the development of syncretic vernacular traditions unique to Ulster have been recorded. Included are detailed discussions of plantation-period economics, settlement pattern, architecture, ceramics, livestock, footwear, lithics, tobacco pipes, glassmaking and other artifact types. Investigations at Salterstown highlight an early English colonial milieu offering an instructive alternative to North American colonial contexts

Incinerated ashes: characteristics and potential for use in concrete-related applications

For this study on municipal incinerated bottom ash and sewage sludge ash, and their use in concrete related applications, an original analytical systemisation method was developed. This involved sourcing of the global data, which were systematically coordinated into a collective form, for the analysis, evaluation and modelling work to be undertaken. An overview of the ash production is provided initially, covering municipal solid waste and sewage sludge, incineration and ash processing. The physical and chemical properties of the ashes were then studied. On the use of MIBA/SSA as aggregate and cement components, the applications explored included cement clinker production, pastes, mortars, concrete, blocks. lightweight aggregate concrete and aerated concrete. Enviromnental impacts and case studies were also covered. Models were developed for strength estimation with the use of the ashes as aggregate and cement components. It was determined that MlBA and SSA can offer value as aggregate and cementitious components, though conditions on their use are required. The ashes are suited for use at low contents in concrete products. Lightweight aggregate produced from MIBA/SSA exhibited similar properties to Lytag. Aerated concrete offered a particularly favourable outlet for use. Leaching tests showed that the ash heavy metals were immobilised within the cement matrix

Materiality and Location: A Geographic Study of Log Home Manufacturing

The dissertation presents a material-geographic analysis of the materiality of log home manufacturing and may be the first quantitative application of ‘new materiality’ concepts. It tests the thesis that log home attributes reveal a manufacturer’s geographic region and building culture. A study of human-environment interaction, the research investigated the organization of log home manufacturing in the Eastern Woodlands of North America and illustrates relationships between manufacturers, their perspectives on forest resources and their choices of log conversion (i.e., processing) methods. Data were obtained from secondary sources and by surveying managers of log home manufacturing firms. Methods included hierarchical cluster analysis, spatial analysis using the standard deviational ellipse, a spatial statistic, in GIS, and multinomial logistic regression. The results support the conclusion that log conversion attributes do, in fact, identify manufacturers’ regions, their perspectives on their forest resources, and, by extension, their building cultures. Surprisingly, the regions correspond to those originally established by Native Americans hundreds of years ago. A manufacturer’s log acquisition methods, distances from timber supplies, timber performance requirements, influences on log conversion methods, and perceptions of market barriers to offering ‘green’ certified logs were predicted by a manufacturer’s log conversion methods. Manufacturers’ perspectives on environmental issues and geographic distances from their markets were not. A manufacturer’s timber inputs were found to have profound implications. Higher volume manufacturers were more likely to acquire their timber locally or nearby as raw logs and were more likely to produce regionally specific log profiles. Lower volume manufacturers were more likely to acquire their timber as cants from a greater distance and to produce a greater variety of log profiles