Integration of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and chemical looping combustion (CLC) for ultra-high efficiency power generation and CO2 production

This work presents a thermodynamic analysis of the integration of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) with chemical looping combustion (CLC) in natural gas power plants. The fundamental idea of the proposed process integration is to use a dual fluidized-bed CLC process to complete the oxidation of the H2-CO-rich anode exhausts from the SOFC in the CLC fuel reactor while preheating the air stream to the cathode inlet temperature in the CLC air reactor. Thus, fuel oxidation can be completed in N2-free environment without the high energy and economic costs associated to O2 production, avoiding at the same time the high temperature and high cost heat exchanger needed in conventional SOFC plants for air preheating. In the proposed configurations, the CLC plant is operated at mild conditions (atmospheric pressure and temperature in the range of 700–800 °C), already demonstrated in several pilot plants. Two different scenarios have been investigated: in the first one, the SOFC is designed for large-scale power generation (100 MWLHV of heat input), featuring a heat recovery steam cycle and CO2 capture for subsequent storage. In the second scenario, the system is designed for a small-scale plant, producing 145 kg/h of pure CO2 for industrial utilization, as a possible early market application. The main parameters affecting the plant performance, i.e. SOFC voltage (V) and S/C ratio at SOFC inlet, have been varied in a sensitivity analysis. Three different materials (Ni, Fe and Cu-based) are also compared as oxygen carriers (OCs) in the CLC unit. The integrated plant shows very high electric efficiency, exceeding 66%LHV at both small and large scale with a carbon capture ratio (CCR) of nearly 100%. It was found that, except for the cell voltage, the other operating parameters do not affect significantly the efficiency of the plant. Compared to the benchmark SOFC-based hybrid cycles using conventional CO2 capture technologies, the SOFC-CLC power plant showed an electric efficiency ∼2 percentage points higher, without requiring high temperature heat exchangers and with a simplified process configuration

Secreted miR-210-3p as non-invasive biomarker in clear cell renal cell carcinoma

The most common subtype of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is clear cell RCC (ccRCC). It accounts for 70-80% of all renal malignancies representing the third most common urological cancer after prostate and bladder cancer. The identification of non-invasive biomarkers for the diagnosis and responsiveness to therapy of ccRCC may represent a relevant step-forward in ccRCC management. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether specific miRNAs deregulated in ccRCC tissues present altered levels also in urine specimens. To this end we first assessed that miR-21-5p, miR-210-3p and miR-221-3p resulted upregulated in ccRCC fresh frozen tissues compared to matched normal counterparts. Next, we evidenced that miR-210-3p resulted significantly upregulated in 38 urine specimens collected from two independent cohorts of ccRCC patients at the time of surgery compared to healthy donors samples. Of note, miR- 210-3p levels resulted significantly reduced in follow-up samples. These results point to miR-210-3p as a potential non-invasive biomarker useful not only for diagnosis but also for the assessment of complete resection or response to treatment in ccRCC management

Multiparametric MRI of the bladder: inter-observer agreement and accuracy with the Vesical Imaging-Reporting and Data System (VI-RADS) at a single reference center

Objectives: To evaluate accuracy and inter-observer variability using Vesical Imaging-Reporting and Data System (VI-RADS) for discrimination between non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) and muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). Methods: Between September 2017 and July 2018, 78 patients referred for suspected bladder cancer underwent multiparametric MRI of the bladder (mpMRI) prior to transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT). All mpMRI were reviewed by two radiologists, who scored each lesion according to VI-RADS. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated for each VI-RADS cutoff. Receiver operating characteristics curves were used to evaluate the performance of mpMRI. The Ƙ statistics was used to estimate inter-reader agreement. Results: Seventy-five patients were included in the final analysis, 53 with NMIBC and 22 with MIBC. Sensitivity and specificity were 91% and 89% for reader 1 and 82% and 85% for reader 2 respectively when the cutoff VI-RADS > 2 was used to define MIBC. At the same cutoff, PPV and NPV were 77% and 96% for reader 1 and 69% and 92% for reader 2. When the cutoff VI-RADS > 3 was used, sensitivity and specificity were 82% and 94% for reader 1 and 77% and 89% for reader 2. Corresponding PPV and NPV were 86% and 93% for reader 1 and 74% and 91% for reader 2. Area under curve was 0.926 and 0.873 for reader 1 and 2 respectively. Inter-reader agreement was good for the overall score (Ƙ = 0.731). Conclusions: VI-RADS is accurate in differentiating MIBC from NMIBC. Inter-reader agreement is overall good. Key Points: • Traditionally, the local staging of bladder cancer relies on transurethral resection of bladder tumor. • However, transurethral resection of bladder tumor carries a significant risk of understaging a cancer; therefore, more accurate, faster, and non-invasive staging techniques are needed to improve outcomes. • Multiparametric MRI has proved to be the best imaging modality for local staging; therefore, its use in suitable patients has the potential to expedite radical treatment when necessary and non-invasive diagnosis in patients with poor fitness

Techno-economic assessment of different routes for olefins production through the oxidative coupling of methane (OCM): Advances in benchmark technologies

his paper addresses the techno-economic assessment of two technologies for olefins production from naphtha and natural gas. The first technology is based on conventional naphtha steam cracking for the production of ethylene, propylene and BTX at polymer grade. The unused products are recovered in a boiler to produce electricity for the plant. The plant has been designed to produce 1 MTPY of ethylene. In the second case, ethylene is produced from natural gas through the oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) in which natural gas is fed to the OCM reactor together with oxygen from a cryogenic air separation unit (ASU). The overall reactions are kinetically controlled and the system is designed to work at about 750–850 °C and close to 10 bar. Since the overall reaction system is exothermic, different layouts for the reactor temperature control are evaluated. For the naphtha steam cracking plant, the energy analysis shows an overall conversion efficiency of 67% (with a naphtha-to-olefins conversion of 65.7%) due to the production of different products (including electricity), with a carbon conversion rate of 70%. The main equipment costs associated with naphtha steam cracking are represented by the cracker (about 30%), but the cost of ethylene depends almost entirely on the cost associated with the fuel feedstock. In case of the OCM plant, the overall energy conversion efficiency drops to maximally 30%. In the studied plant design, CO2 capture from the syngas is also considered (downstream of the OCM reactor) and therefore the final carbon/capture efficiency is above 20%. The cost of ethylene from OCM is higher than with the naphtha steam cracking plant and the CAPEX affects the final cost of ethylene significantly, as well as the large amount of electricity required.The authors are grateful to the European Union’s HORIZON2020 Program (H2020/2014-2020) for the financial support through the H2020 MEMERE project under the grant agreement n° 679933

Exploring the views on total quality human resources management between public and private educational units

The aim of the present study is to identify the attitudes of the directors of different types of educational units regarding the practices of Total Quality of Human Resources Management (TQHRM) in Greece. The specific objectives of the survey are the exploration and analysis of the following issues: a) The philosophy applied by each director on the unit they manage and the position of the HR in it; b) the directors’ opinion about the TQHRM Practices; and c) the difference in the approach of these practices between the public and private educational unit directors.The data is collected using a questionnaire that was sent electronically to Greek schools of various levels in 2018 and the number of responses is 70, of which 53% are from the private and 47% from the public sector directors. To process responses and draw conclusions, both one-dimensional and multidimensional analysis were performed. The results of this survey show that the HRM practices followed by the directors do not have a clear orientation. This highlights the need for training those who run an educational institution on TQHRM and the understanding of the importance of Human Resources on achieving the goals of an organization

Syngas quality in fluidized bed gasification of biomass: comparison between olivine and K-feldspar as bed materials

The relevance of selecting an appropriate bed material in fluidized bed gasification is a crucial aspect that is often underestimated. The ideal material should be economical, resistant to high temperatures and have small chemical interaction with biomass. However, often only the first of such three aspects is considered, neglecting the biomass–bed interaction effects that develop at high temperatures. In this work, olivine and K-feldspar were upscale-tested in a prototype fluidized bed gasifier (FBG) using arboreal biomass (almond shells). The produced syngas in the two different tests was characterized and compared in terms of composition (H2, CH4, CO, CO2, O2) and fate of contaminants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), tar and metals.. Moreover, the composition of olivine and K-feldspar before and after the biomass gasification process has been characterized. The aim of this work is to show which advantages and disadvantages there are in choosing the most suitable material and to optimize the biomass gasification process by reducing the undesirable effects, such as heavy metal production, bed agglomeration and tar production, which are harmful when syngas is used in internal combustion engines (ICE). It has been observed that metals, such as Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Sn, Ba and Pb, have higher concentrations in the syngas produced by using olivine as bed material rather than K-feldspar. In particular, heavy metals, such as Pb, Cu, Cd, Ni and Zn, show concentrations of 61.06 mg/Nm3, 15.29 mg/Nm3, 17.97 mg/Nm3, 37.29 mg/Nm3 and 116.39 mg/Nm3, respectively, compared to 23.26 mg/Nm3, 11.82 mg/Nm3, 2.76 mg/Nm3, 24.46 mg/Nm3 and 53.07 mg/Nm3 detected with K-feldspar. Moreover, a more hydrogen-rich syngas when using K-feldspar was produced (46% compared to 39% with olivine)

The genomic and epigenomic evolutionary history of papillary renal cell carcinomas

From Springer Nature via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2019-09-11, accepted 2020-05-10, registration 2020-05-12, pub-electronic 2020-06-18, online 2020-06-18, collection 2020-12Publication status: PublishedFunder: This work was supported by the Intramural Research Program of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, NIH, DHHSAbstract: Intratumor heterogeneity (ITH) and tumor evolution have been well described for clear cell renal cell carcinomas (ccRCC), but they are less studied for other kidney cancer subtypes. Here we investigate ITH and clonal evolution of papillary renal cell carcinoma (pRCC) and rarer kidney cancer subtypes, integrating whole-genome sequencing and DNA methylation data. In 29 tumors, up to 10 samples from the center to the periphery of each tumor, and metastatic samples in 2 cases, enable phylogenetic analysis of spatial features of clonal expansion, which shows congruent patterns of genomic and epigenomic evolution. In contrast to previous studies of ccRCC, in pRCC, driver gene mutations and most arm-level somatic copy number alterations (SCNAs) are clonal. These findings suggest that a single biopsy would be sufficient to identify the important genetic drivers and that targeting large-scale SCNAs may improve pRCC treatment, which is currently poor. While type 1 pRCC displays near absence of structural variants (SVs), the more aggressive type 2 pRCC and the rarer subtypes have numerous SVs, which should be pursued for prognostic significance

New membranes for hydrogen and syngas production

Syngas is an important feedstock for the production of higher hydrocarbons or methanol. It can be produced via conversion of methane and the most extensively used process for this conversion is the methane steam reforming reaction carried out in large furnaces. On the other hand, hydrogen is nowadays produced via conversion of methane to syngas and successive water gas shift reaction and purification. Methane steam reforming is a highly endothermic reaction which is industrially operated under severe conditions resulting in several undesirable consequences: sintering of the catalyst, very high carbon deposition and the use of high-temperature resisting materials. These drawbacks for methane steam reforming can be overcome by using membrane reactors, systems able to combine the separation properties of membrane with the typical characteristics of catalytic reactions. By using for example Pd-based membrane reactors, the hydrogen produced can be continuously withdrawn from the reaction system circumventing the thermodynamic limitations and making the methane steam reforming feasible at lower temperatures than the traditional systems. A potential alternative technique to steam reforming processes for producing syngas is the partial oxidation of methane with oxygen, having the disadvantage (economical and technological) that pure oxygen is required. Using air instead of pure oxygen is beneficial only if it can be performed by using a membrane reactor in which the membrane is perm-selective to oxygen. Another possible route for the partial oxidation of methane is the use of catalytic membrane reactors in which the membrane acts as both separation layer and reaction media. In this chapter new membranes to be used in syngas production and in hydrogen production will be discussed

Application of the MFA methodology for the analysis of paper and cardboard waste in Italy and a focus on waste management in Apulia

Abstract. The raw materials crisis has put a strain on the paper market, leading to a real supply race forcing recycled paper suppliers to decrease their production capacity. In recent years, the paper recovery market has undergone significant changes: just think how wastepaper from the recycling cycle in Italy had a cost of zero euros in February 2020, at the Milan Chamber of Commerce, compared to 68 euros in February 2022. These figures drive home the importance of rethinking production cycles from the perspective of the circular economy. In this study, the authors have studied the paper value chain to analyse the sustainability of the paper sector in Italy with a focus on the Apulian region using the Material Flow Analysis (MFA) tool to identify critical points in the regional system. The authors' goal is to identify critical aspects of the current system as a starting point for future improvement scenarios aimed at greater circularity while responding to the logistical and economic needs of the sector