Förbehandling av lignocellulosarika råvaror vid biogasproduktion - Nyckelaspekter vid jämförande utvärdering

I biogassektorn finns ett ökande behov av och en ökande konkurrens om råvaror, och intresset för användning av odlingsrester, vall, mellangrödor mm som biogasråvara ökar. Gemensamt för dessa råvaror är att de är fiberrika, dvs. har ett högt innehåll av lignocellulosa, vilket gör att det är osannolikt att de skulle användas för biogasproduktion utan förbehandling. Ett antal förbehandlingstekniker har introducerats på marknaden under senare år, och både företagsdrivna projekt och forskningsprojekt kring utvärdering av en eller flera förbehandlingstekniker pågår. Utvärderingarna läggs dock upp med olika utgångspunkter och metoder så att utkomster från olika projekt blir omöjliga att jämföra. Att utreda frågan om hur man utvärderar och jämför olika förbehandlingsmetoder ur teknik-, ekonomi-, energi- och miljöperspektiv är därför angeläget. Syftet med denna förstudie är att peka ut nyckelaspekter som är viktiga för att möjliggöra jämförande utvärdering av olika förbehandlingsmetoder samt att inspirera aktörer till att vilja medverka till att ta ett samlat grepp i frågan. Ett förslag till upplägg för vidare forskning, utveckling och demonstration presenteras. Arbetet med förstudien har finansierats genom Energimyndigheten

Genomic subtypes of breast cancer identified by array comparative genomic hybridization display distinct molecular and clinical characteristics

Abstract Introduction Breast cancer is a profoundly heterogeneous disease with respect to biologic and clinical behavior. Gene-expression profiling has been used to dissect this complexity and to stratify tumors into intrinsic gene-expression subtypes, associated with distinct biology, patient outcome, and genomic alterations. Additionally, breast tumors occurring in individuals with germline BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations typically fall into distinct subtypes. Methods We applied global DNA copy number and gene-expression profiling in 359 breast tumors. All tumors were classified according to intrinsic gene-expression subtypes and included cases from genetically predisposed women. The Genomic Identification of Significant Targets in Cancer (GISTIC) algorithm was used to identify significant DNA copy-number aberrations and genomic subgroups of breast cancer. Results We identified 31 genomic regions that were highly amplified in > 1% of the 359 breast tumors. Several amplicons were found to co-occur, the 8p12 and 11q13.3 regions being the most frequent combination besides amplicons on the same chromosomal arm. Unsupervised hierarchical clustering with 133 significant GISTIC regions revealed six genomic subtypes, termed 17q12, basal-complex, luminal-simple, luminal-complex, amplifier, and mixed subtypes. Four of them had striking similarity to intrinsic gene-expression subtypes and showed associations to conventional tumor biomarkers and clinical outcome. However, luminal A-classified tumors were distributed in two main genomic subtypes, luminal-simple and luminal-complex, the former group having a better prognosis, whereas the latter group included also luminal B and the majority of BRCA2-mutated tumors. The basal-complex subtype displayed extensive genomic homogeneity and harbored the majority of BRCA1-mutated tumors. The 17q12 subtype comprised mostly HER2-amplified and HER2-enriched subtype tumors and had the worst prognosis. The amplifier and mixed subtypes contained tumors from all gene-expression subtypes, the former being enriched for 8p12-amplified cases, whereas the mixed subtype included many tumors with predominantly DNA copy-number losses and poor prognosis. Conclusions Global DNA copy-number analysis integrated with gene-expression data can be used to dissect the complexity of breast cancer. This revealed six genomic subtypes with different clinical behavior and a striking concordance to the intrinsic subtypes. These genomic subtypes may prove useful for understanding the mechanisms of tumor development and for prognostic and treatment prediction purposes

Timeliness costs in grain and forage production systems

With increasing prices for energy, fertiliser and feed concentrates, it is becoming increasingly important for farmers to produce high quality feed while minimising costs. For a Swedish farm, costs for machinery make up about 25% of the production costs. The economic consequences of performing a field operation at non-optimal time are called timeliness costs. They are caused by reductions in crop value and can be reduced by increasing machine capacity. To improve the basis for optimal selection of field machinery in agriculture, methods were developed and applied for calculation of timeliness costs in terms of crop quality and quantity losses at non-optimum operation times. Timeliness costs for grain that accounted for crop quantity and quality losses at delayed sowing and harvesting were higher per kg for organic grain than for conventional. The main differences in timeliness costs resulted from two counteracting factors – lower yields and higher product prices in organic production. Higher timeliness costs resulted in a larger combine harvester with higher capacity being economically optimal for the organic system. A method was developed for valuing forage for milk production with respect to crop yield increases and feed value decreases due to delayed time of harvesting. The results showed significantly higher timeliness cost factors in € per ha and day for the first cut compared with regrowth. Timeliness cost factors also varied greatly between years. Harvesting costs in terms of timeliness were calculated for different machinery systems and capacities. Harvesting costs decreased with increasing forage area up to a certain threshold area, beyond which decreasing machine costs were outweighed by increasing timeliness costs due to longer duration of harvest. Using machine contractors or machine cooperatives decreased harvesting costs, particularly for small forage areas, due to increased annual use of the machines. However, to avoid high timeliness costs delays in harvesting must be avoided. Forage was also valued in terms of biogas production by accounting for changes in yield and methane production with varying cutting date. Timeliness costs were small as long as harvesting was not delayed. Matching capacity to requirements is important in avoiding costly overcapacity and minimising costs

Spannmål till energi

The use of cereals and other agricultural crops for energy purposes and the increased demand for food world-wide have increased cereal prices. However since energy prices have also increased, it can still be profitable to use cereals for energy production. To date, the cereals used for bioenergy have usually been grown in the same way as food and feed cereals, but there is scope to tailor the cultivation system to the end product. The overall objective of this project was to improve the profitability of cereal cultivation for energy purposes. Changes to the cultivation system in terms of e.g. choice of crop and cultivar, strategies for fertilisation and crop protection and transport/handling of cereals for bioethanol production or combustion were studied. Timeliness costs associated with bioenergy cereals were also examined. The financial impact of changes in the cultivation system for bioenergy cereals was then examined for three typical farms, located in the provinces of Skåne, Östergötland and Uppland. Based on the results obtained, concrete guidelines for farmers were formulated. The average arable area of the typical farms was 203 ha, the farms had a seven-year crop rotation and for all locations winter wheat was the dominant crop but triticale and oats were also included. Two cultivation systems, Traditional and Energy, were examined. In the Energy cultivation system, the winter wheat and triticale were used for bioethanol production in an ethanol plant located in Norrköping (Östergötland), while the oats were used for combustion in plants close to the typical farms. The results showed that cultivation of bioenergy cereals did not differ greatly from cultivation of food/feed cereals. However, when cultivating cereals for bioethanol production it is important to adapt the nitrogen fertilisation strategy to achieve high starch content together with high yields of the specific cultivar grown. The most important change in the Energy system proved to be decreasing the nitrogen fertiliser dose to winter wheat for bioethanol production compared with food winter wheat, by 25 kg per ha and year overall for the typical farms. Yield then decreased by 200 kg per ha. There are currently no cereal cultivars developed specifically for combustion, but plant breeders should work towards producing cultivars that combine high yield with high energy content per kg dry matter. The economic analyses of the typical farms showed that the Traditional system gave higher profits than the Energy system in Uppland and Skåne, but the systems were equally profitable in Östergötland. This was because the ethanol plant was located in Östergötland, so the transport costs were the same for both systems in this province but were higher for the Energy system in Skåne and Uppland. Detailed analysis of the energy cereals grown showed that due mainly to the increased transport costs associated with the ethanol plant being located in Norrköping, the price of winter wheat for ethanol production in Skåne should be 0.06 SEK/kg higher than the price of feed wheat to achieve the same level of profit. In Östergötland the profitability was higher for bioethanol wheat both when delivered at harvest or after storage (in December). For delivery at harvest, for each percentage increase in starch content there was a bonus of SEK 0.02 per kg winter wheat produced, and also higher permitted grain water content on delivery to the ethanol plant. The price of bioethanol wheat could therefore be 0.08 SEK/kg lower at harvest delivery and 0.03 SEK/kg lower at delivery after storage without lowering the profitability compared with feed wheat. For Uppland the profitability for bioethanol wheat was comparable with that of feed wheat. Compared with wheat, the profitability of triticale increased more when it was used for bioethanol instead of feed. The price of oats for combustion rather than for feed could decrease for all typical farms without decreasing profitability due to the subsidy available for cultivation of energy crops and to the decreased transport costs when the combustion plant is located close to the typical farm. In this study timeliness costs had minor effects on overall costs, at most constituting 4% of the total. Lower quality requirements (falling number) on bioethanol wheat compared with food wheat resulted in lower timeliness costs for the Energy system, while timeliness costs for the other cereals studied were similar

Farmers current practices, and their opinion on supplying straw for production of second-generation biofuels in Sweden

This report presents results from the EU project AGROinLOG (Grant Agreement 727921) and especially focuses on the results from a survey looking at the current practices with straw use in Sweden as well as the farmer’s opinion on supplying straw for the production of second-generation biofuel. The survey was developed as a collaboration between LRF (Federation of Swedish farmers) RISE and Lantmännen.The reader can first read about the context within which the survey was developed and analysed. The questions and the methodology are then presented. The main part of the report presents the questionnaire results before drawing conclusions in line with the project’s objectives.The survey shows that about 60% of the straw from farmers participating in the survey, remains in the field while 40% is harvested mostly for animal production. The county of Skåne, the “ÖSÖ” region (Östergötland, Södermanland, and Örebro counties), the region including Uppsala, Stockholm and Västmanland counties, and the county of Västra Götaland have the largest potential for collection of straw for industrial processes in Sweden. However, farmers from these regions are the most concerned about the decrease of soil quality due to straw removal. The current common practices for straw handling in Sweden, including baling, collection, transport, storage and sale, are highlighted.Some interesting conclusions are drawn concerning the logistics needed for the handling of straw for the biobased industry. Moreover, the answers from the survey give some insights concerning a potential “straw contract” between Lantmännen and the farmers. The report also highlights the aspects to be further researched.More information concerning the Swedish contribution to the AGROinLOG project can be found in the public report AGROinLOG (2020a).EU project AGROinLOG (Grant Agreement 727921)</p

The rules of priority : A study of the rules of priority related to layoffs and an acquisition of companies in Karlstad

Metso Paper in Karlstad is acquiring Kvaerner Pulping and Kvaerner Kamfab, also located in Karlstad. Following this acquisition, there are going to be changes in the organizational structure and some employees might even loose their jobs. There are guidelines from the European Union how to handle situations like this, the purpose of these are to protect the employees. There are also Swedish laws that regulate the protection of the employees when a company is acquired, who is going to keep their job and who is to be made redundant. The transaction between the companies is large why they need an approval from the European Union. The European Union has certain demands for the approval. Metso and Kvaerner have to sell some parts of the production to another company in order to not become too dominant in the market. In this essay we are investigating what the law says about layoffs and how it is handled in reality. We have kept focus on the paragraphs 6 b and 22 of the law regarding employment protection. These paragraphs regulate the protection for the employees in an acquisition, they also regulate who has to leave first in a potential of layoff situation. Important parts of the legislation protect employees with high age and those who have the longest employment time in the company. A prerequisite for keeping their jobs is that the employees have necessary knowledge and skills for the tasks he or she is going to perform. We have used traditional legal method so-called dogmatic method with empirical elements. The traditional method means to search through literature such as doctrine and dissertations for information and the empirical elements means for example the information we’ve gathered from the companies. We got the idea for this essay when we were doing our internships at Metso Paper and Kvaerner Kamfab, a part of our examination in this course. We were informed about the transaction and got curious about what was going to happen with the employees in the companies. Our result shows that almost everything is negotiable through collective bargaining agreements. Another conclusion is that when a Swedish company sells parts of the production to a company located in another country and with no intent to keep the production in Sweden, the law is not preventing them executing their plans

Mirror, mirror on the wall, are my breasts the reflection of me at all? : A literature study on the experiences of women with breast cancer, who have undergone breast surgery.

Titel: Spegel, spegel på väggen där, säger mig brösten vem jag är? En litteraturstudie om hur kvinnor med bröstcancer upplever det att ha fått sitt/sina bröst opererade. Bakgrund: Bröstcancer är den vanligaste cancerformen bland kvinnor i världen. Behandlingen består av kirurgi och eventuell tilläggsbehandling. Kvinnor som gjort mastektomi pga bröstcancer ställs inför beslutet om och när det ska göras en bröstrekonstruktion. Att drabbas av bröstcancer kan vara en komplex upplevelse som sjuksköterskan behöver ha kunskap om för att bemöta kvinnor med bröstcancer på ett professionellt sätt. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att belysa hur kvinnor med bröstcancer upplever det att ha fått ett eller båda brösten helt eller delvis bortopererade och ibland rekonstruerade.                                                                                                                           Metod: Litteraturstudien är grundad på nio kvalitativa artiklar som kvalitetsgranskats, analyserats och sammanställts. Artikelsökningen utfördes i databaserna CINAHL och PsycINFO.                                                                      Resultat: Att ha fått sina bröst opererade upplevdes som att kroppen, självbilden, relationer och livssituationen förändrades.                                                      Konklusion: Litteraturstudien visade att kvinnornas upplevelse av mastektomi och bröstrekonstruktion påverkade kvinnorna fysiskt, psykiskt, socialt och existentiellt. Det är viktigt att som sjuksköterska uppmärksamma kvinnans individuella behov av stöd och förstå vikten av att detta kan påverka kvinnans hela livssituation. Nyckelord: Bröstcancer, bröstkirurgi, kroppsuppfattning, självbild, upplevelse

Vall till etanolproduktion - koncept för vall i växtföljden

This report is about ley for ethanol production, with focus on the cultivation and handling, and is part of the project " Biofuel from agricultural side streams and straw in a system perspective " financed by the Swedish Energy Agency. The project is a continuation of the issue of secure raw material supply from the EU project AGROinLOG, which is about producing ethanol from straw. In order to be cost effective, ethanol is usually produced in large-scale plants, and with straw as a feedstock a secure supply of large quantities of straw is required. Producing ethanol from ley broadens the raw material base and is an opportunity to secure the supply of raw materials, especially during years with low cereal yields or with difficult harvest conditions for the straw. Introducing ley to a cereal-dominated crop rotation gives many positive effects on the cultivation system and to subsequent crops. There need to be a market and a buyer of the crop for the grain producers to be interested in ley cultivation. This report focuses on how a concept for ley to ethanol could look from the farmer's perspective. One question in the project was if the choice of grass and legumes variety is important. Four varieties of grass, as well as red clover and alfalfa, were harvested and collected in the project, in pure stand from Lantmännen's variety trials in Lännäs and Svalöv. The interviews with farmers conducted in the project showed that nitrogen fixating legumes such as clover and alfalfa are interesting from a farmer’s perspective for the positive effects, they have on the cultivation system. They should preferably be cultivated in combination with a fast-growing grass variety. The analyses that were done to investigate how the different ley species work as substrates for ethanol and bio-oil production showed that all the tested varieties work in these processes. In order to supply an ethanol plant with substrate all year round, the possibility to deliver both fresh and ensiled grass was studied. Fresh ley can be supplied to the plant from late May to late October. Depending on the extent of the fresh ley supply, it is complemented with silage or straw to cover the daily feedstock need. In order to avoid losses and heating of the material before entering the plant, the fresh ley should be harvested continuously every or every second day. Also, the ley should be physically damaged or cut as little as possible during harvesting and handling. The harvesting of fresh grass can be done in two steps. First the grass is mowed and left in swaths on the field. After that a forage wagon picks up the ley followed by transport to the plant. The other option is a direct-harvesting system using a tractor with a direct cut forage wagon and a mower in the front. The grass is cut and directly put in the wagon for transport to the plant. Which system to choose depends on how much grass is to be delivered per occasion and what degree of damage to the structure that is desired before delivery. For the ensiled ley the same kind of large-scale, cost-effective harvesting system usually used for harvesting of ley for animal production is suggested, typically consisting of a mower followed by a self -propelled precision chopper with separate wagons for transport to the plant. Essentially, three actors are involved in the delivery of ley to the ethanol plant, the farmer, the ethanol producer and a contractor who performs one or more steps in the harvesting and handling chain. Depending on the interests and conditions of the actors, two alternatives can be used to describe who is doing what. In option 1, the farmer establishes the ley and sells it on root. Then it is the buyer, or a contractor hired by the buyer, who handles harvesting, transport and storage. Depending on conditions on farm and plant, storage can be done on farm, on an intermediate storage or on plant. Option 2 means that the farmer has a more active role in cultivation, harvesting and transport and delivers the ley to the plant, either fresh at harvest or ensiled during the rest of the year. Two alternative concepts have been identified for delivering ley to ethanol production, where the proximity to the ethanol plant is what distinguishes the concepts. The concept "close" is aimed at farms located a short distance from Agroetanol. Fresh ley grass can be delivered with tractor to the plant during the growing season and ensiled ley grass is delivered by truck from the farm. The short distance makes it more interesting to receive, primarily, liquid residual streams that are produced at the ethanol plant. For the farm "further away" it is primarily silage that can be delivered because the silage has a lower water content compared to fresh ley, which means that it has lower transport costs.Biodrivmedel från jordbrukets sidoströmmar och omväxlingsgrödor i ett systemperspekti