Castleman disease and lymphocytic interstitial pneumonia: a complex diagnostic and management challenge

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Addressing Technology Uncertainties in Power Plants with Post-Combustion Capture

AbstractRisks associated with technology, market and regulatory uncertainties for First-Of-A-Kind fossil power generation with CCS can be mitigated through innovative engineering approaches that will allow solvent developments occurring during the early stage of the deployment of post-combustion CO2 capture to be subsequently incorporated into the next generation of CCS plants. Power plants capable of improving their economic performance will benefit financially from being able to upgrade their solvent technology. One of the most important requirements for upgradeability is for the base power plant to be able to operate with any level of steam extraction and also with any level of electricity output up to the maximum rating without capture. This requirement will also confer operational flexibility and so is likely to be implemented in practice on new plants or on any integrated CCS retrofit project

Carbon Capture and Storage Regulatory Test Toolkit - Summary Brochure

Large point sources of carbon dioxide are responsible for a significant proportion of the world's greenhouse gas emissions - with fossil fuel power stations and other large-scale industrial activities responsible for around half of the total. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is expected to make a major contribution to reducing these emissions. Few CCS projects currently exist in the world - and a lack of experience in regulatory agencies and commercial entities of how regulatory systems would apply to such projects increases risk - potentially leading to delays and increased costs for emerging CCS projects. This toolkit has been produced by Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage (SCCS) researchers on behalf of the Scottish Government and sponsored by the Global CCS Institute. It guides users through a regulatory test exercise, which provides a low-cost, low-risk approach to testing regional and national legislation and regulatory systems for CCS projects, and gaining the benefits in follow-up activities. The toolkit recommends use of a real or simulated CCS project as part of this exercise to assist government agencies and other stakeholders to work together to test and improve understanding of regulatory systems. It explains how a simulated or real CCS project can be taken through the regulatory process from inception to decommissioning - a test of the regulatory process at much lower cost, time and risk than would be incurred under a real project application.Large point sources of carbon dioxide are responsible for a significant proportion of the world's greenhouse gas emissions - with fossil fuel power stations and other large-scale industrial activities responsible for around half of the total. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is expected to make a major contribution to reducing these emissions. Few CCS projects currently exist in the world - and a lack of experience in regulatory agencies and commercial entities of how regulatory systems would apply to such projects increases risk - potentially leading to delays and increased costs for emerging CCS projects. This toolkit has been produced by Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage (SCCS) researchers on behalf of the Scottish Government and sponsored by the Global CCS Institute. It guides users through a regulatory test exercise, which provides a low-cost, low-risk approach to testing regional and national legislation and regulatory systems for CCS projects, and gaining the benefits in follow-up activities. The toolkit recommends use of a real or simulated CCS project as part of this exercise to assist government agencies and other stakeholders to work together to test and improve understanding of regulatory systems. It explains how a simulated or real CCS project can be taken through the regulatory process from inception to decommissioning - a test of the regulatory process at much lower cost, time and risk than would be incurred under a real project application

Built-in flexibility at retrofitted power plants: What is it worth and can we afford to ignore it?

AbstractMaking best use of existing assets is a high priority for industry, particularly when significant capital expenditure would be required to construct replacement capacity to meet continued demand if they were taken out of service. In this context, the potential to retrofit carbon dioxide (CO2) capture to existing power plants so that they can continue to operate in plausible future scenarios where significant cuts in CO2 emissions are required from the electricity sector has become an increasingly ‘hot topic’. One potentially important characteristic of retrofitted plants that is typically over-looked in assessments of CO2 capture retrofit is that they are likely to have ‘built-in flexibility’. For example, for plants that retrofit post-combustion capture without any significant changes to the power cycle (i.e. that do not undertake a boiler/turbine retrofit at the time as adding capture), it should be technically feasible for the plant to avoid the majority of the efficiency penalty associated with operating CO2 capture by temporarily bypassing the capture unit. The low pressure steam turbine, condenser and generator will be sized so that they are able to use the steam that is diverted away from the CO2 capture unit for power generation without any additional expenditure, since this steam was included in the design flow before capture was fitted. This paper and a related PhD thesis contributes to developing understanding of the potential value of built-in flexibility of coal-fired power plants retrofitted with post-combustion capture and potential enhancements associated with temporary storage of rich solvent. This analysis is important to inform investment and policy decisions and brings together engineering and economic assessment. Thus, it is able to draw robust conclusions that are relevant in determining both priorities for future technical design work and decisions about which modes of operating flexibility may be sufficiently valuable to warrant further analysis within investment appraisal or policy-making related to retrofitting post-combustion capture to pulverised coal plants

Financing new power plants ‘CCS Ready’ in China–A case study of Shenzhen city

AbstractWe evaluate the benefits of a ‘CCS Ready Hub’ approach, a regional ‘CCS Ready’ strategy, which not only includes a number of new coal-fired power plants but also integrates other existing stationary CO2 emissions sources, potential storage sites and potential transportation opportunities into an overarching simulation model. A dynamic top-down simulation model was built based on economic decision criteria and option pricing theory. The model inputs and assumptions build on spatial sampling and analysis using a geographic information system (GIS) approach, engineering assessment of local projects and outputs of a CCS retrofitting investment evaluation through cost cash flow modelling. A case study of Shenzhen city in the Pearl River Delta area in Guangdong in southern China is presented, based on engineering and cost assessment studies and stakeholder consultations and building on existing geological surveys and infrastructure plans. The simulation results show that financing ‘CCS Ready’ at regional planning level rather than only at the design stage of the individual plant (or project) is preferred since it reduces the overall cost of building integrated CCS systems. On the other hand, we found the value of considering existing stationary CO2 emissions sources in CCS ready design. Therefore, we recommended that making new plants CCS ready or planning a CCS ready hub should consider existing large emissions sources when possible