Millmerran Power Station ROM coal blockage removal system

[Abstract]: Millmerran Power Station (MPS) consists of two units with each unit producing 420 MW of electricity. The coal is delivered to the plant by off road type trucks and unloaded into a 500 MT hopper. The ROM (run of mine) coal is processed through a series of crushing stations and coal handling (storage/reclaim) systems, and delivered by overland conveyor to the power plant silos. MPS, as a coal fired station, is wholly dependent on a consistent and reliable supply of coal to maintain operating efficiency. MPS has been experiencing inefficiencies in their ROM coal supply because of constant blockage issues at the receiving hopper. This blockage is a direct result of large lumps of coal coming from the mine. The blockages interrupt the supply of coal potentially lowering the fuel supply to the power station. Currently, an excavator is hired to clear up the blockage which could be utilised more effectively elsewhere. This introduces an extra cost to the mine in terms of both money and inefficiency. MPS is seeking an engineering design solution to this problem. The elimination of the blockages through an automatic system without increasing any safety risks is highly desirable as that would result in a cheaper and smoother operation of the mine. A literature review on the current coal handling system of MPS was essential in order to be able to develop a design that is suitable for MPS. In this investigation, five conceptual designs with the most appropriate design, in terms of meeting the specified criteria, was analysed and detailed. It was found that the simpler and more effective the design, the higher its practicality in terms of reaching the desired objectives. This enabled an overall cost estimate budget to be produced, which would be the major deciding factor on the implementation of the design. The results of this investigation will aid in gaining an understanding of the overall general solution for the ROM coal blockage problem at MPS. Both design and engineering solutions have been recommended in this dissertation. This will lead eventually to a more automated, safer, efficient and cost effective operating environment

Coimmobilization of Azospirillum lipoferum and Bacillus megaterium for Successful Phosphorus and Nitrogen Nutrition of Wheat Plants

The efficacy of strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus megaterium and Azospirillum spp. in in vitro solubilization of Ca3PO4 was studied. Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus megaterium strains were the most powerful phosphate solubilizers on Pikovskaya (PVK) plates and liquid medium. Azospirillum lipoferum strains showed weak zones of solubilization on the PVK plates. Phosphate solubilization by the tested organisms was accompanied with pH reduction of the culture medium. Maximum pH reduction was 2.8, 1.2 and 0.5 units for Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus megaterium and Azospirillum lipoferum strain 137, respectively. Alginate and agar immobilization of the tested bacteria or coimmobilization of A. lipoferum 137 and B. megaterium significantly enhanced phosphorus solubilization for four consecutive 4-day cycles. In a pot experiment, phosphorus mobilization in wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Beni Swif 1) inoculated with B. megaterium or A. lipoferum 137 as single or mixed inocula (as free or alginate immobilized beads) was studied in presence of Ca3PO4. Wheat inoculated with mixed inocula exhibited high shoot dry weight, total nitrogen (N) yield and the shoot phosphorus content increased by 37 and 53 % compared to the plants inoculated with A. lipoferum and uninoculated ones, used as control, respectively. Maximum nitrogenase activity (measured by acetylene reduction assay) was observed in mixed inoculum treatment, and was increased by 500 and 32 % compared to uninoculated and A. lipoferum inoculated plants. Results demonstrate the beneficial influence of coinoculation of A. lipoferum and B. megaterium for providing balanced N and P nutrition of wheat plants

Irony and distance in John Crowe Ransom's poetry : a computer-assisted study

By the time the Fugitive movement was launched between 1922 and 1925, Ransom's poetic technique had changed in a remarkable fashion which is the main topic of the thesis. Gone was a direct, almost brutally sarcastic manner to be replaced with a polished irony that places a considerable distance between him, his subject and his reader. He is no longer involved in the narrative action of the poems as in Poems about God, and there is more concentration on the action of the poems than description. In The Fugitive (1922-1925) Ransom published his most successful poems such as: "Ego", "Bells for John Whiteside Daughter", "Philomela", "First Travels of Max", "Captain Carpenter", "Prometheus in Straits" "Ada Ruel", "Old Mansion", "Blue Girls", "Adventure This Side of Pluralism", an "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son". These poems and a number of others were also published in separate collections, Chills and Fever (1924), Grace after Meat (1924). Some of these poems underwent few changes while others were revised drastically. The Fugitive group disbanded in 1926 and their magazine ceased publication. In 1927, Ransom published Two Gentlemen in Bonds. In this last book of verse Ransom introduced sonnets for the first time in his publications, though he had experimental once before in "Sunset". After 1927 some members of the Fugitive group began to reestablish contact and they soon became Agrarians in the economic, political, agricultural, and perhaps literal sense of the word. During the Agrarian years (1927-1938), Ransom was busy in three spheres: professor of English at Vanderbilt University, contributing to the editorship of the Agrarian publications, I'll Take My Stand: The South and the Agrarian Tradition, (1930), and Who Owns America? A New Declaration of Independence (1936), and finally publishing his first works of literary criticism; God without Thunder: An Unorthodox Defence of Orthodoxy (1930) and The World's Body (1938)

The theme of alienation in Matthew Arnold

Summary available on pp. i-vi

Comparative pharmacokinetics of cefoperazone following intravenous and intramuscular administration in goats

AbstractThe pharmacokinetic profile of cefoperazone was studied in goats following intravenous and intramuscular administration of 20mg/kg body weight. Cefoperazone concentrations in serum were determined by microbiological assay technique using Escherichia coli (ATCC 10536) as test organism. Following i.v. administration, the cefoperazone serum concentration–time curve was best fitted in a two compartment open model. Cefoperazone has moderate distribution in the body of goats with Vdss of 0.44±0.03L/kg. The elimination half-life (T0.5(β)), area under curve (AUC) and total body clearance (Cltot) were 1.97±0.14h, 149.63±8.61μgml−1h−1, and 2.17ml/min/kg, respectively. Following i.m. administration, the drug was very rapidly absorbed, with an absorption half-life (T0.5(ab)) of 0.12±0.01h. The maximum serum concentration (Cmax) of 30.42±3.53μgml−1 was attained at (Tmax) 0.58±0.02h, with an elimination half-life (T0.5(el)) of 2.53±0.11h. The systemic bioavailability of cefoperazone in the goats after i.m. administration was 83.62% and in vitro protein binding was 20.34%. The serum concentrations of cefoperazone along 12h post i.m. injection in this study were exceeding the MIC of different susceptible micro-organisms responsible for serious disease problems. Consequently, a suitable intramuscular dosage regimen for cefoperazone was 20mg/kg repeated at 12h intervals in goats. The drug was detected in urine up to 12 and 18h following i.v. and i.m. administration, respectively

Coimmobilization of Azospirillum lipoferum and Bacillus megaterium for Successful Phosphorus and Nitrogen Nutrition of Wheat Plants

The efficacy of strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus megaterium and Azospirillum spp. in in vitro solubilization of Ca3PO4 was studied. Pseudomonas fluorescens and Bacillus megaterium strains were the most powerful phosphate solubilizers on Pikovskaya (PVK) plates and liquid medium. Azospirillum lipoferum strains showed weak zones of solubilization on the PVK plates. Phosphate solubilization by the tested organisms was accompanied with pH reduction of the culture medium. Maximum pH reduction was 2.8, 1.2 and 0.5 units for Pseudomonas fluorescens, Bacillus megaterium and Azospirillum lipoferum strain 137, respectively. Alginate and agar immobilization of the tested bacteria or coimmobilization of A. lipoferum 137 and B. megaterium significantly enhanced phosphorus solubilization for four consecutive 4-day cycles. In a pot experiment, phosphorus mobilization in wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Beni Swif 1) inoculated with B. megaterium or A. lipoferum 137 as single or mixed inocula (as free or alginate immobilized beads) was studied in presence of Ca3PO4. Wheat inoculated with mixed inocula exhibited high shoot dry weight, total nitrogen (N) yield and the shoot phosphorus content increased by 37 and 53 % compared to the plants inoculated with A. lipoferum and uninoculated ones, used as control, respectively. Maximum nitrogenase activity (measured by acetylene reduction assay) was observed in mixed inoculum treatment, and was increased by 500 and 32 % compared to uninoculated and A. lipoferum inoculated plants. Results demonstrate the beneficial influence of coinoculation of A. lipoferum and B. megaterium for providing balanced N and P nutrition of wheat plants

Improvement of Cell Wall Degrading Enzymes Production by Alginate Encapsulated Trichoderma spp.

Conidia of three Trichoderma isolates were formulated to make alginate pellets with or without 0.5 % chitin or dried fungal mycelium of Fusarium oxysporum as carbon source. The formulations were compared for their ability of in vitro chitinase and β-1,3-glucanase production with free fungal spore suspensions. Conidia entrapped in alginate with or without adjuvant showed high production of enzymes (especially for chitinase) even when repeated 4 times. The addition of chitin or dried fungal mycelium as adjuvant enhanced the enzyme production up to 5 and 2-fold for chitinase and β-1,3-glucanase, respectively. Alginate concentration and surface area of the beads affected the enzyme production. The optimum initial pH, incubation time and temperature were pH=6, 12 days and 40 °C for chitinase, and pH=7, 10 days and 35 °C for β-1,3-glucanase production. The improvement of cell wall degrading enzyme production by alginate encapsulated Trichoderma could explain the in vivo inhibitory effect of such formulations on the target phytopathogenic fungi