Economic and Sustainability Evaluations of Carbon Capture and Transformation Technologies

Carbon dioxide is a major contributor to global warming, and there is an environmental benefit to capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, oceans, or other sources. There is also economic value in refining or converting carbon dioxide into an economically valuable substance, such as carbon-based fuels. One barrier to the widespread implementation of existing technologies is that it is difficult to develop an economically viable system where the economic benefit of the product outweighs the costs of the capture/refinement processes. Additionally, many of these technologies require substantial inputs of energy and other resources including water and scarce materials (e.g., precious metal catalysts for chemical transformations) in order to function. There is a lack of knowledge on the comparative effectiveness of technologies that draw from on different sources of carbon dioxide capture, for example, air versus oceanic capture of CO2. This project establishes a holistic comparison of existing technologies with respect to the concentration of CO2 in the source stream, performance of capture and conversion technologies, operating costs and resource use. Information on costs and energy use for existing technologies were collected from data reported in the scientific literature. CO2 capture methods considered include: (a) thermochemical direct air capture, (b) amine scrubbing, and (c) electrochemical technologies. For the products I evaluate the value of making: (a) a pure stream of CO2; (b) methanol; and (c) thermoplastic polymers. Thermodynamic and data-driven analysis is performed to establish and identify combinations of sources, technologies, and products which are the most effective while being economically viable and sustainable. These learnings will provide guidance to shape ongoing research in electrochemical technologies, and to improve the future design of carbon capture and transformation technologies. This analysis showed that all carbon capture methods of producing these value-added products were less energy intensive than production by traditional methods. Additionally, all of the processes were economically profitable and amine scrubbing was found to be the least expensive and least energy intensive carbon capture method.NAhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/176752/1/HonorsCapstoneFinalReport_-_Katherine_Giammalvo.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/176752/2/NEWco2poster_-_Katherine_Giammalvo.pd

The Impact of a Harness on Participation Levels of Children with Motor Impairments in the Young Athletes Program

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how a pediatric harness system impacts participation levels of children with cerebral palsy in the Young Athletes (YA) program. Subjects: Two preschool-aged children with cerebral palsy (CP) were selected from a local charter school. Participant one had a Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) level II while participant two was a level III. Materials/Methods: Each subjects’ participation was compared in and out of a pediatric harness 3 times per week for 8 weeks. The YA curriculum involved basic play skills such as kicking, catching, balancing, and jumping. During each session, participation was rated based on the level of verbal or physical assistance needed to complete each activity. Results: The participation percentage for each subject was calculated in versus out of the harness. Both subjects were able to participate in the YA program more independently when in the harness than when using their assistive device (86.4% out vs 89.2% in for participant 1 and 65.3% out vs 95.0% in for participant 2). Conclusions: Incorporating a harness system when implementing the YA program may provide increased opportunity for participation in children with CP. Clinical Relevance: For children with CP, participation in physical activity is a key factor in their quality of life and a frequent goal for physical therapy. Creating adaptive and inclusive opportunities can increase their participation in physical activities