Barriers to success: A technical review on the limits and possible future roles of small scale gasifiers

Literature and manuals refer to biomass gasification as one of the most efficient processes for power generation, highlighting features, such as residual biomass use, distributed generation and carbon sequestration, that perfectly incorporate gasification into circular economies and sustainable development goals. Despite these features, small scale applications struggle to succeed as a leading solution for sustainable development. The aim of this review is to investigate the existing technological barriers that limit the spreading of biomass gasification from a socio-technical point of view. The review outlines how existing technologies originated from under feed-in-tariff regimes and highlights where the current design goals strongly differ from what will be needed in the near future. Relevant market-ready small-scale gasification systems are analyzed under this lens, leading to an analysis of the reactor and filtration design. To help understand the economical sustainability of these plants, an analysis of the influence of capital expenditures and operating expenditures on the return of investment is included in the discussion. Finally, a literature review on prototypes and pre-market reactors is used as a basis for spotting the characteristics of the system that will likely resolve issues around fuel flexibility, cost efficiency and load variability

Energy cost and parmesan cheese. An overview in the different energy fluxes needed to produce a parmesan wheel

Agriculture is responsible for up to 30% of the greenhouse gases emission, and cattle breeding is the main contributor making up almost 10% of the total. For this reason, this sector is a key player toward a complete decarbonization. To take the proper action to reduce climate impact of cattle breeding, it is necessary to know the energy requirements of the industry. This work focuses on the energy mapping of a parmesan cheese production, with reference to an agricultural company situated in Modena province with about six hundred animals. Knowing the electrical and thermal energy requirements to produce a wheel of cheese gives the possibility to the farmers to identify and reduce the energy wastage as well as starting the implementation of a strategy for fossil fuel substitution. In this study, a comprehensive monitoring campaign is presented together with the proposal of some possible improvements. The analysis showed that, considering the actual situation, about 64 kWh of electrical energy and 94 kWh of thermal energy are needed to produce a parmesan cheese wheel, while the fuel used to feed the agricultural machinery (e.g., tractors) accounts for around 174 kWh. In this context, the implementation of biogas and solar photovoltaic can greatly contribute to reduce the dependence on fossil fuels

Domestic heating: Can hemp-hurd derived pellet be an alternative?

Among the renewable sources, residual woody biomass from agricultural crops is becoming of great interest due to its lower environmental impact and one of the most growing agricultural sector, of the last decade, is the hemp industry which generates several kind of byproducts. In this paper, a blend of 50% of hemp-hurd and 50% of fir sawdust was pulverized and pelletized. The pellets were burned into a domestic pellet stove (9 kWth maximum nominal thermal power output) at different biomass flowrates. To compare results with a commercial-grade pellet, the tests were repeated by fueling the same stove with A2-grade pellets. Results shown that the pellet mixture 50/50 of fir sawdust and hemp-hurd is suitable for the commercial pellet stove used and that the slightly higher amount of ashes (2.7%), compared to pellet A2 (<1.2%), can be handled by the self-cleaning fire chamber. Comparable results were also obtained in regards with the stove global efficiency which ranged from 90.8-92.3% for the hemp pellets and 91-94% for the A2. A significant difference was noted in the biomass flowrate where, during the tests with hemp-hurd pellets a lower value was obtained (-20%) compared to A2. This resulted into lower power input in the stove and lower performances at the same nominal power output

Thermal Stabilization of Digesters of Biogas Plants by Means of Optimization of the Surface Radiative Properties of the Gasometer Domes

A new incentive scheme for power generation from biogas is favoring in Italy the construction of small plants. These ones, however, have poorer financial viability and biological stability than larger plants. In order to ensure adequate performance and a reasonable payback period it is therefore essential that every aspect of their operations is carefully designed. In this respect, summer overheating of anaerobic digesters due to solar gains must be prevented. A solution relies upon the implementation of a ‘cool’ gasometer dome with properly chosen solar reflectance, whose effectiveness was assessed through the use of a calculation code specifically built and validated by comparison with experimental data

Dose-Dependent Prevention of Fibrosis in Aorta of Salt-Loaded Stroke-Prone Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats by Combined Delapril and Indapamide treatment.

Combined treatment with the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor delapril and the diuretic indapamide prevented vascular damage in vital organs of salt-loaded stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRsp). Whether the changes occurring after long-term hypertension could also be modulated in large arteries was investigated. Two-month-old SHRsp were salt loaded and treated with the drug regimen until they reached 50 +/- 10 mortality or around midlife. In a first experiment, delapril (12 mg/kg) and indapamide (1 mg/kg) were administered daily separately or in combination. In the second dose-finding experiment, delapril (6, 3, 1.5 mg/kg) and indapamide (0.5, 0.25, 0.125 mg/kg) in decreasing dose combinations were analyzed. Ultrastructural, histomorphometric, and biochemical studies were performed on the thoracic aorta. When compared with delapril (12 mg/kg) or indapamide (1 mg/kg) administered individually for 5 months, the combination 12 + 1 mg/kg was able to prevent the increase in extracellular matrix deposition observed in other treatment groups, as assessed by histomorphometry or 4-OH-proline biochemical determination. In the second experiment, a half-dose (delapril 6 mg/kg + indapamide 0.5 mg/kg) combination was similarly effective in counteracting fibrosis, but the other doses progressively failed. In the first experiment, the combination had a stabilizing effect on hypertension and stimulated diuresis. In the second experiment, arterial blood pressure values and sodium balance were not consistently affected by the treatments that antagonized fibrosis (i.e., delapril 6 mg/kg + indapamide 0.5 mg/kg and, less efficiently, delapril 3 mg/kg + indapamide 0.25 mg/kg). These results suggest that indapamide interacts with ACE inhibitors to limit aortic fibrosis independent of any well-established mechanism

Histopathological determinants of autofluorescence patterns in oral carcinoma

Biological tissues (including oral mucosa) can absorb and re-emit specific light wavelengths, detectable through spectrophotometric devices. Such a phenomenon is known as \u201cautofluorescence\u201d (AF). Several devices evaluating tissue AF have been developed and commercialized in the last two decades. Among these, the VELscope\uae system has been proposed as a visual diagnostic aid for potentially malignant disorders and malignant lesions of the oral mucosa. In the present pilot study, we investigated which are the main histopathological features possibly related to variations in AF patterns in a set of 20 oral squamous cell verrucous carcinoma. Among all the histological features investigated, only the mean width of keratin was significantly different between hypofluorescent and hyperfluorescent carcinomas. The results of the present study demonstrate that AF features of oral malignant lesions are significantly associated with the width of their keratin layer

Nomophobia in healthcare: an observational study between nurses and students

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The abuse of technical devices can be considered a form of addiction that is defined in current literature as Nomophobia. The phenomenon appears to be quite widespread among nurses and nursing students, and nomophobic behaviours of professionals can lead to a reduction in the quality of the care provided. The aim of this study is to investigate the situation in a University and in a hospital in northern Italy and evaluate the levels of nomophobia among nurses and students. METHODS: An observational study was conducted with a questionnaire using a sample of nursing students and nurses.  Both of the studies had the common goal of investigating the levels of nomophobia and   evaluate the comparison between the two groups. RESULTS: In general, neither nurses nor students seem to demonstrate nomophobia's critical levels. The comparison of the daily use of the smartphone between nurses and students shows that the frequent use of students is balanced by the nurses' daily trend line that progressively decreases. Both nurses and students affirm to use their smartphones at work with a certain frequency although, especially among the students, it is usually for appropriate and justified reasons. CONCLUSIONS: It is necessary to consider the development of an educational project that regulates the use of smartphones, explaining the meaning of nomophobia, right from the first year of the University experience so as to correctly address the students'  (and future professionals') behaviours  to make them aware of the misuse of mobile phones, especially in the clinical setting that can easily cause distractions and consequently irreversible  errors

Cognitive reserve index and functional and cognitive outcomes in severe acquired brain injury: A pilot study

Background: Many variables affect outcome after brain injury. Cognitive reserve (CR) is a subjective factor that reflects a set of personal characteristics and that differentiates individuals. It may influence an individual’s capacity to react to brain injury. Objective: To study the effects of cognitive reserve on functional and cognitive outcome at the end of rehabilitation, in patients with severe acquired brain injury (sABI), by means of the Cognitive Reserve Index questionnaire (CRIq). Methods: We report a retrospective study of a continuous series of sABI patients on first admission to a rehabilitation center. Disability and cognitive outcomes were recorded. Results: In the 94 patients enrolled, the assessments after rehabilitation showed a significant gain measured with the disability Rating Scale for patients with a higher CR (CRIq≥ 85). A significant negative correlation was found: between CRIq scores and the interval elapsing before first access to neuropsychological assessment, between CRIq scores, especially level of education, and tests that measure the same domain (attention). Conclusions: Improvements in overall and cognitive disability emerged, but CR did not seem to substantially influence outcome in this sample of patients. This result may be partly due to the clinical severity of the population studied and the sample’s dimension, although quantitatively representative of the population