Techno-economic analysis of a hybrid solar-biomass heating system for the cork industry. What makes it profitable?

The industrial sector is an important energy consumer, which accounted for 29% of the world’s final energy consumption in 2015 [1]. In the European Union this share is slightly lower, 25% in 2016, and in Portugal 27% [2]. Moreover, its energy consumption is still dominated by fossil fuels and industry is therefore an important contributor to the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere. Looking at the penetration of renewable energies in the industrial sector, in 2016 in the EU28, only 8% of the final industrial energy consumption was supplied by renewable energies, being biomass presently the only renewable energy source with some expression and mainly in the biomass residue generating industries. This paper focuses on the cork industry, a sub-sector where Portugal is an important player worldwide. Many industrial units already use biomass as an energy source; however, part of it could be replaced by solar energy, freeing biomass for other uses. The use of solar energy is technically possible, and for some of the industrial processes can be provided with commercially available solar collector. However, this is not done. One of the reasons is that the solar systems are costly and the industry has energy systems with a long life and is sensitive to costs. According to [3], the implementation of solar systems in the industry requires the installation of pilot plants with the help of public funds or incentives. This work presents a techno-economic viability study for the implementation of a hybrid solar-biomass systems to provide process heat for the boiling of cork. As expected, for the proposed scenario, the implementation of the system is not profitable. The critical incentives in terms of CAPEX that would be required to implement the system with no financial losses are identified. Although the study focuses on a particular industrial sub-sector, it sheds light on the required incentives for the promotion of renewable process heat in industry

Assistência técnica agronômica vivenciada em propriedade rural no município de Uruguaiana, RS

Este trabalho de conclusão de curso tem como base o estágio curricular obrigatório realizado na Agricultura Adolf Stern, situada no município de Uruguaiana, RS. O objetivo é descrever as principais atividades realizadas durante o estágio nesta empresa agrícola, destacando o acompanhamento de práticas de manejo relacionadas ao cultivo de arroz ecobiológico, e a assistência técnica prestada a um rebanho de ovinos, envolvendo todas as práticas de manejo relacionadas ao sistema de produção. O acompanhamento do cultivo do arroz ecobológico permitiu agregar conhecimentos pela diferente forma de produzir o grão. As dificuldades enfrentadas pelo ovinocultor gaúcho também foram vivenciadas durante o estágio. Desse modo, foi possível colocar em prática muitos ensinamentos aprendidos em sala de aula. Esse foi um período único para o enriquecimento pessoal e futura atuação profissional, em função do aprendizado ao conviver e trabalhar com pessoas até então desconhecidas, de conseguir enfrentar e superar certas dificuldades e do reconhecimento e valorização de um trabalho que, embora difícil, foi compensador por ter conseguido alcançar os objetivos esperados e por ajudar quem realmente precisava, o produtor

Mobile application software development

The smartphone application industry has been on a steady rise all over the world, creating new jobs every year, in one of these companies I realised a 5-month internship in Sweden, developing a new feature for their app using React Native and Firebase. In this internship not only did I improved my programming skill but also gained invaluable insight on the industry, agile environments, how to better work as a team and the responsibility of developing a new feature for an established app on the market. In this dissertation I shall go over the history of the app, some stats of the industry, the agile methodology, the tools, frameworks and Services used to develop the feature I was trusted with, the day-to-day life of an agile developer in Equilab and how we overcame some issues.A indústria de aplicações moveis tem estado num crescimento constante por todo o mundo, criando novos postos de trabalho todos os anos, foi numa destas empresas que realizei meu estágio profissional de 5 meses na Suécia, desenvolvendo uma noca característica para aplicação utilizando maioritariamente React Native e Firebase. Durante o estágio aperfeiçoei não só minhas habilidades como programador, mas também ganhei conhecimento da indústria, trabalhei num ambiente Agile, trabalhar melhor em equipa e lidar com a responsabilidade de desenvolver uma nova característica numa aplicação líder do seu mercado. Nesta dissertação eu irei abordar a história das aplicações, algumas estatísticas sobre a indústria, a metodologia Agile, as ferramentas, frameworks e serviços usados para desenvolver a característica com a qual eu fui confiado em realizar, também irei falar como era o dia a dia na vida de um desenvolvedor Agile na empresa Equilab e como superamos alguns dos problemas encontrado

A relação entre a formação e os níveis de stress, ansiedade e depressão em cuidadores formais de centros sociais

A transformação socioeconómica coloca grandes desafios às Instituições Particulares de Solidariedade Social, principalmente aos Centros Sociais e aos seus cuidadores formais. A formação poderá ser uma variável fundamental para o bem-estar dos cuidadores formais. Por isso, é importante compreender a relação entre a formação e os níveis de stress, de ansiedade e de depressão (SAD) em cuidadores formais que lidam com idosos, doentes crónicos e crianças (Barbosa, Cruz, Figueiredo, Marques & Sousa, 2011; Lopes, 2005; Sousa, 2011; Vicente & Oliveira, 2011). A partir de um estudo quantitativo observacional descritivo transversal, em que participaram 110 cuidadores formais de três Centros Sociais do distrito de Braga, verificou-se que quase um terço da amostra apresenta sintomatologia psicopatológica. A variável formação não parece interferir nos níveis de stress, de ansiedade e de depressão da maior parte dos cuidadores. A variação destes níveis parece explicar-se melhor pela multifuncionalidade dos cuidadores formais.The socio-economic transformation brings great challenges to Private Institutions of Social Solidarity, particularly to the Social Centres and their formal caregivers. Training can be essential to the well-being of caregivers. So, it is important to understand the relation between training and the levels of stress, anxiety and depression (SAD) in formal caregivers who deal with the elderly, chronically ill and children (Barbosa, Cruz, Figueiredo Marques and Sousa, 2011; Lopes, 2005; Sousa, 2011; Vincent & Oliveira, 2011). From an observational cross-sectional quantitative study, in which 110 formal caregivers from three Social Centres in the district of Braga attended, almost a third of the sample showed psychopathological symptoms. The training does not seem to influence the levels of stress, anxiety and depression for most caregivers. The variation of these levels seems to be explained best by the multifunctionality of formal caregivers

Validação de projetos usando análise por elementos finitos do Catia V5

O método dos elementos finitos é uma das técnicas numéricas mais usadas para o cálculo de deslocamentos, deformações e tensões em estruturas. Ainda há a noção de que esta técnica numérica é pouco acessível, requerendo uma grande especialização e consequente investimento na formação dos utilizadores, para ser usada corretamente. De modo a tornar o uso desta técnica mais acessível, tem sido feito um grande investimento por parte das empresas criadoras destes softwares no que diz respeito à interface com o utilizador e à integração das ferramentas de análise com os softwares de design paramétricos. Neste documento fez-se uma pesquisa sobre o estado da arte da tecnologia dos elementos finitos e sobre a sua aplicação à indústria de ferramentaria. Fez-se um estudo de dois casos dentro da empresa VW Autoeuropa relacionados com a análise estrutural de duas ferramentas de estampagem e retiraram-se as respetivas conclusões relativas a esses mesmos casos. É feita uma comparação crítica entre os valores obtidos das ferramentas não conformes, e os valores obtidos das ferramentas conformes, com o intuito de compreender o funcionamento e a capacidade do módulo FMD.Finite elements method is one of the most used numerical techniques to calculate displacements, deformations, and tensions on structures. There is still the idea that this technique isn’t easily accessible since it requires major specialization and therefore major investment on the formation of users, to be used correctly. In order to make this technique more accessible, there has been made a major investment by companies that created this software with regards to the user interface and the integration of analysis tools with the parametric design software. This document contains the state of art regarding finite elements method technology and its applications to the tooling industry. Two study cases have been made inside the company VW Autoeuropa related to two stamping dies and its conclusions are here collected and demonstrated. The results obtained from both non-complaint stamping dies are compared with the results obtained from the complaint stamping dies, with the objective to understand the mechanics and the ability of FMD module

GIS BASED ANALYSIS OF POTENTIAL FOREST RESIDUES FOR ENERGY IN ALENTEJO, PORTUGAL

The present work evaluates the quantity and spatial distribution of potential forest residues in Alentejo, the largest geographic region in Portugal. Forest residues from the five main species in Portugal, tasmanian blue gum, cork oak, maritime pine, holm oak and stone pine, were assessed. The characterization of the biomass residues was performed in a Geographical Information System environment using the Portuguese land cover map and residues production rates from the available literature sources. The calculations were executed for every cell of a 250 m cell size grid. The total potential residues obtained was around 330,000 dry ton/year, with 172,000 dry ton/year being from cork oak. The residues spatial distribution occurs mainly in the western and north-western parts of Alentejo. This area was also the only one to achieve values of residual biomass above 80,000 dry ton/year for a 35 km radius collection area

Solid Biomass for Process Heat in Europe: Sources and Technologies

The European Directive 2009/28/EC established the global target of 20% share of renewable energy sources in energy consumption to be met by 2020, but EU countries have already agreed on a new, more ambitious goal by 2030: at least 27% of final energy consumption in the EU. With regard to final energy consumption per sector, industry was the second largest EU energy consumer in 2015, with a 25.3% share in final energy consumption. This sector is strongly dependent on fossil fuels and is dominated by heat consumption. These facts express the importance that heating in the industrial sector has on the EU energy consumption (around 18% of the EU energy consumption). Promoting changes in the way energy is used and generated in the European industry is therefore central to achieve the EU goals in terms of renewable energy penetration. Today, biomass is the only renewable energy source that does not have a neglegible use in the European industry. It is widely employed in some industrial sectors (for example, it is the main energy carrier in the European paper and pulp industry); however, in other energy intensive sectors, it has no important expression. In this work, the current status of the use of solid biomass by the European Industry for the production of process heat is presented. The availability of solid biomass in Europe is assessed and a description on the available conversion technologies is undertaken. The different alternatives are compared in terms of performance and costs

Solid Biomass for Process Heat in Europe: Future Perspectives

In Europe, heating and cooling accounts for the largest share of the total final energy consumption (TFEC) and is the main component for the renewable energy share. From the different renewable energy sources (RES) used for heating and cooling, biomass is by far the largest contributor and thus crucial to achieving Europe’s renewable energy targets. On the other hand, in the European industry, which has a 25.0% share in the TFEC, most energy is consumed in the form of heat. The European industrial sector is still strongly dependent on fossil fuels, so, promoting the deployment of RES in this sector is central to achieving the EU goals. Also, today, the use of solid biomass is often the most cost-effective way of increasing the penetration of RES in the industry. Moreover, there is still a large potential for increasing its use by the European industry. Malico et al discussed the status of solid biomass use in the European industry as a whole and the available conversion technologies. In this work, the largest energy consuming European industry sub-sectors are analysed in terms of biomass use and growth perspectives. The following industries are studied: iron and steel, chemical and petrochemical, non-metallic minerals, pulp and paper, and food, beverages and tobacco