EN-fuels from solid waste biomass by thermo-catalytic reforming

Intermediate pyrolysis describes a process of converting feedstock by heating it up in the absence of oxygen under moderate, “intermediate” conditions. Typical conditions are a residence time for solids between 5 to 30 minutes, low heating rates and temperatures between 350 °C - 450 °C. Due to these conditions intermediate pyrolysis has remarkable advantages regarding the feedstock, compared to other processes based on flash pyrolysis. Large particles, like pellets or chips can be used. Dry matter content can be below 50% from a technical point of view. For economic reasons the dry matter should be more than 70 % to avoid using energy mainly for drying. However, this dry matter is still very low compared to the requirements of most flash pyrolysis reactors. Another advantage is the use of variable and heterogeneous feedstock, preferably residue and waste biomass. The feedstock can vary from agricultural residues, biogas digestate, municipal and industrial biowaste to sewage sludge. The latest development of the intermediate pyrolysis technology is Fraunhofer UMSICHT´s Thermo-Catalytic Reforming process (TCR®). It is a novel process for the production of char, gas, and bio-oils with improved properties. One significant innovation of TCR® is the integrated downstream catalytic reforming step. This multi-patented technology enables the high quality of the final products carbonisate, syngas, and oil. The robustness of the process permits the utilization of various biogenic feedstocks. The yield of the products depends on the chemical properties of the feedstocks, whereas the quality and characteristics of the products are due the robustness of the process, largely independent of the feedstocks. With the focus on the TCR® oil there is one unique selling point: The oil is thermally stable and therefore distillable. This is the basis for other thermal upgrading processes like e.g. hydro-treatment. Furthermore, the thermal stability of the TCR® oil is a basic prerequisite for usage in the fossil petrol processing industry. This includes, among other applications, combined heat and power (CHP) plants. Additional unique properties are the low water content, the low total acid number, and the high heating value. The high quality of the crude TCR®-oil can be further improved to EN fuel quality by distillation and hydrodeoxygenation (HDO). For hydrodeoxygenation sulfonated NiMo catalyst at temperatures of around 370 °C and a pressures in the range of 140 bar and with LHSV of 0.3 per hour were applied. The resulting products showed full properties of standard hydrocarbon fuels. A separation into diesel and petrol fraction by rectification demonstrated, that both fractions met the fossil fuel standards (EN 228 and EN 590). Through hydrotreating the hydrogen content was increased and the oxygen, sulphur and nitrogen content was significant lowered or respectively removed in an efficient way with a yield over 85 %. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Unintended Side Effects of the Digital Transition: European Scientists’ Messages from a Proposition-Based Expert Round Table

We present the main messages of a European Expert Round Table (ERT) on the unintended side effects (unseens) of the digital transition. Seventeen experts provided 42 propositions from ten different perspectives as input for the ERT. A full-day ERT deliberated communalities and relationships among these unseens and provided suggestions on (i) what the major unseens are; (ii) how rebound effects of digital transitioning may become the subject of overarching research; and (iii) what unseens should become subjects of transdisciplinary theory and practice processes for developing socially robust orientations. With respect to the latter, the experts suggested that the “ownership, economic value, use and access of data” and, related to this, algorithmic decision-making call for transdisciplinary processes that may provide guidelines for key stakeholder groups on how the responsible use of digital data can be developed. A cluster-based content analysis of the propositions, the discussion and inputs of the ERT, and a theoretical analysis of major changes to levels of human systems and the human–environment relationship resulted in the following greater picture: The digital transition calls for redefining economy, labor, democracy, and humanity. Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based machines may take over major domains of human labor, reorganize supply chains, induce platform economics, and reshape the participation of economic actors in the value chain. (Digital) Knowledge and data supplement capital, labor, and natural resources as major economic variables. Digital data and technologies lead to a post-fuel industry (post-) capitalism. Traditional democratic processes can be (intentionally or unintentionally) altered by digital technologies. The unseens in this field call for special attention, research and management. Related to the conditions of ontogenetic and phylogenetic development (humanity), the ubiquitous, global, increasingly AI-shaped interlinkage of almost every human personal, social, and economic activity and the exposure to indirect, digital, artificial, fragmented, electronically mediated data affect behavioral, cognitive, psycho-neuro-endocrinological processes on the level of the individual and thus social relations (of groups and families) and culture, and thereby, the essential quality and character of the human being (i.e., humanity). The findings suggest a need for a new field of research, i.e., focusing on sustainable digital societies and environments, in which the identification, analysis, and management of vulnerabilities and unseens emerging in the sociotechnical digital transition play an important role

Prenatal stress programs neuroendocrine stress responses and affective behaviors in second generation rats in a sex-dependent manner

AbstractAn adverse environment in early life is often associated with dysregulation of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and higher rates of mood disorders in adulthood. In rats, exposure to social stress during pregnancy results in hyperactive HPA axis responses to stress in the adult offspring and heightened anxiety behavior in the males, but not the females. Here we tested whether, without further intervention, the effects of prenatal stress (PNS) in the first filial generation (F1) are transmitted to the F2 generation via the maternal line. F1 control and PNS female rats were mated with control males and housed under non-stress conditions throughout pregnancy. HPA axis responses to acute stress, anxiety- and depressive-like behavior were assessed in the adult F2 offspring.ACTH and corticosterone responses to an acute stressor were markedly enhanced in F2 PNS females compared with controls. This was associated with greater corticotropin releasing hormone (Crh) mRNA expression in the paraventricular nucleus and reduced hippocampal glucocorticoid (Gr) and mineralocorticoid receptor (Mr) mRNA expression. Conversely, in the F2 PNS males, HPA axis responses to acute stress were attenuated and hippocampal Gr mRNA expression was greater compared with controls.F2 PNS males exhibited heightened anxiety-like behavior (light-dark box and elevated plus maze) compared with F2 control males. Anxiety-like behavior did not differ between F2 control and PNS females during metestrus/diestrus, however at proestrus/estrus, F2 control females displayed a reduction in anxiety-like behavior, but this effect was not observed in the F2 PNS females. Heightened anxiety in the F2 PNS males was associated with greater Crh mRNA expression in the central nucleus of the amygdala compared with controls. Moreover, Crh receptor-1 (Crhr1) mRNA expression was significantly increased, whereas Crhr2 mRNA was significantly decreased in discrete regions of the amygdala in F2 PNS males compared with controls, with no differences in the F2 females. No differences in depressive-like behavior (sucrose preference or forced swim test) were observed in either sex. In conclusion, the effects of maternal stress during pregnancy on HPA axis regulation and anxiety-like behavior can be transmitted to future generations in a sex-dependent manner. These data have implications for human neuropsychiatric disorders with developmental origins