Advances in Condition Monitoring, Optimization and Control for Complex Industrial Processes

The book documents 25 papers collected from the Special Issue “Advances in Condition Monitoring, Optimization and Control for Complex Industrial Processes”, highlighting recent research trends in complex industrial processes. The book aims to stimulate the research field and be of benefit to readers from both academic institutes and industrial sectors

Neural network modelling and prediction of the flotation deinking behaviour of complex recycled paper mixes.

Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.In the absence of any significant legislation, paper recycling in South Africa has grown to a respectable recovery rate of 43% in 2008, driven mainly by the major paper manufacturers. Recently introduced legislation will further boost the recovery rate of recycled paper. Domestic household waste represents the major remaining source of recycled paper. This source will introduce greater variability into the paper streams entering the recycling mills, which will result in greater process variability and operating difficulties. This process variability manifests itself as lower average brightness or increased bleaching costs. Deinking plants will require new techniques to adapt to the increasingly uncertain composition of incoming recycled paper streams. As a developing country, South Africa is still showing growth in the publication paper and hygiene paper markets, for which recycled fibre is an important source of raw material. General deinking conditions pertaining to the South African tissue and newsprint deinking industry were obtained through field surveys of the local industry and assessment of the current and future requirements for deinking of differing quality materials. A large number of operating parameters ranging from waste mixes, process variables and process chemical additions, typically affect the recycled paper deinking process. In this study, typical newsprint and fine paper deinking processes were investigated using the techniques of experimental design to determine the relative effects of process chemical additions, pH, pulping and flotation times, pulping and flotation consistencies and pulping and flotation temperatures on the final deinked pulp properties. Samples of recycled newsprint, magazines and fine papers were pulped and deinked by flotation in the laboratory. Handsheets were formed and the brightness, residual ink concentration and the yield were measured. It was determined that the type of recycled paper had the greatest influence on final brightness, followed by bleaching conditions, flotation cell residence time and flotation consistency. The residual ink concentration and yield were largely determined by residence time and consistency in the flotation cell. The laboratory data generated was used to train artificial neural networks which described the laboratory data as a multi-dimensional mathematical model. It was found that regressions of approximately 0.95, 0.84 and 0.72 were obtained for brightness, residual ink concentration and yield respectively. Actual process data from three different deinking plants manufacturing seven different grades of recycled pulp was gathered. The data was aligned to the laboratory conditions to take into account the different process layouts and efficiencies and to compensate for the differences between laboratory and plant performance. This data was used to validate the neural networks and select the models which best described the overall deinking performances across all of the plants. It was found that the brightness and residual ink concentration could be predicted in a commercial operation with correlations in excess of 0.9. Lower correlations of ca. 0.5 were obtained for yield. It is intended to use the data and models to develop a predictive model to facilitate the management and optimization of a commercial flotation deinking processes with respect to waste input and process conditions

XVIII International Coal Preparation Congress

Changes in economic and market conditions of mineral raw materials in recent years have greatly increased demands on the ef fi ciency of mining production. This is certainly true of the coal industry. World coal consumption is growing faster than other types of fuel and in the past year it exceeded 7.6 billion tons. Coal extraction and processing technology are continuously evolving, becoming more economical and environmentally friendly. “ Clean coal ” technology is becoming increasingly popular. Coal chemistry, production of new materials and pharmacology are now added to the traditional use areas — power industry and metallurgy. The leading role in the development of new areas of coal use belongs to preparation technology and advanced coal processing. Hi-tech modern technology and the increasing interna- tional demand for its effectiveness and ef fi ciency put completely new goals for the University. Our main task is to develop a new generation of workforce capacity and research in line with global trends in the development of science and technology to address critical industry issues. Today Russia, like the rest of the world faces rapid and profound changes affecting all spheres of life. The de fi ning feature of modern era has been a rapid development of high technology, intellectual capital being its main asset and resource. The dynamics of scienti fi c and technological development requires acti- vation of University research activities. The University must be a generator of ideas to meet the needs of the economy and national development. Due to the high intellectual potential, University expert mission becomes more and more called for and is capable of providing professional assessment and building science-based predictions in various fi elds. Coal industry, as well as the whole fuel and energy sector of the global economy is growing fast. Global multinational energy companies are less likely to be under state in fl uence and will soon become the main mechanism for the rapid spread of technologies based on new knowledge. Mineral resources will have an even greater impact on the stability of the economies of many countries. Current progress in the technology of coal-based gas synthesis is not just a change in the traditional energy markets, but the emergence of new products of direct consumption, obtained from coal, such as synthetic fuels, chemicals and agrochemical products. All this requires a revision of the value of coal in the modern world economy

Engineering handbook

1999 handbook for the faculty of Engineerin

Engineering handbook

1998 handbook for the faculty of Engineerin

Engineering handbook

1998 handbook for the faculty of Engineerin

Advanced Fault Diagnosis and Health Monitoring Techniques for Complex Engineering Systems

Over the last few decades, the field of fault diagnostics and structural health management has been experiencing rapid developments. The reliability, availability, and safety of engineering systems can be significantly improved by implementing multifaceted strategies of in situ diagnostics and prognostics. With the development of intelligence algorithms, smart sensors, and advanced data collection and modeling techniques, this challenging research area has been receiving ever-increasing attention in both fundamental research and engineering applications. This has been strongly supported by the extensive applications ranging from aerospace, automotive, transport, manufacturing, and processing industries to defense and infrastructure industries

The NASA scientific and technical information system: Its scope and coverage

A general description of the subject areas covered in the NASA scientific and technical information system is presented. In addition, it establishes subject-based selection criteria for guiding decisions related to the addition of new documents to the NASA collection