Techno-economic evaluation of synthetic natural gas (SNG) and hydrogen containing synthetic natural gas (HSNG) production for future sustainable transport in Germany

This work presents a techno-economic assessment of the synthetic CNG and HCNG production in Germany. The objectives of this investigation are: (1) Determining exergy destruction sources of high- and low-temperature methanation processes for the production of CNG, their influence on the plant’s economic performance, and the potential for cost savings, (2) Estimating the effect of the methanation process and the hydrogen content of synthetic HCNG on the process efficiency, plant’s investment costs and NPC, for the posterior optimization of these performance indicators, (3) Determine the economic advantages of synthetic HCNG production compared to synthetic CNG in Germany to estimate its attractiveness for the market

Techno-economic and environmental assessment of CCU options

If the transport sector, especially aviation, shipping and heavy load, will continue to rely on liquid fuels, carbon-based fuels might be unavoidable for the foreseeable time. With countless options of sustainable fuels, feedstocks and production routes, its difficult to determine preferences of one over the others. We present a methodology to assess these options fair and transparent simultaneously technically, economically as well as environmentally for comparison and selection. Because aviation is one of the fastest growing sectors in terms of CO2 emissions, the regulatory initiative ReFuelEU Aviation was introduced to mitigate the impact of aviation on the environment. Significantly reduced GHG emissions and lower abatement costs require technological innovations of Power-to-liquids, Biomass-to-liquids and Power enhanced Biomass-to-liquids processes. A detailed discussion of sustainable aviation fuels prospects will be presented. The methodology of techno-economic and environmental assessment will be applied to other transport applications and industry decarbonization efforts as well to address all sectors contribution towards Fit-for-55

ADVANTAGES AND CHALLENGES IN RENEWABLE POWER ASSISTED BIOFUELS PRODUCTION

• Massive replacement of fossil fuels requires maximal output from biomass – renewable hydrogen is a valuable option to boost fuel yield • Process optimization based on techno-economic and ecological assessment • Sweet spot search across Europe for deployment • Outlook towards a European sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) roadma

TECHNO-ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF ENERGY TRANSITION OPTIONS

A methodology will be presented to assess sustainable production pathways based on rigorous process simulation of large-scale chemical plants, standardized methods and data for chemical engineering cost estimation, LCA methods and data for environmental impact assessment to provide one standard Techno Economic Process Evaluation Tool (TEPET). It indicates the need for detailed process knowledge and experimentally validated steady-state process flow diagram simulation as a reliable assessment fundament. TEPET establishes an automated link to its unit cost database as well as to an external LCA database, automating the calculation of production costs and environmental impact analysis. Derived from multiple projects with different approaches towards defossilization of transport and basic materials industries, specific outcomes will be highlighted to demonstrate the benefits of TEPET usage. These include: • Non-crop-based biomass usage for sustainable fuels, • Renewable energy production in preferred world regions and long-distance transport options to Germany, • PtL process parameter optimization for efficiency maximization and cost reduction, • Power-to-fuels options like methane, methanol, DMC, DME, OME and others, • Renewable power introduction into the BtL process for fuel output increase, • Vision of a European sustainable aviation fuels roadmap until 2030 and beyond, • Defossilization of the glass furnace process as one example for future sustainable basic materials industry in German

Neonatal imitation: Temporal characteristics in imitative response patterns

Neonatal imitation has been an area that has attracted intense attention within developmental psychology. Reported here are data from 33 newborn infants (16 girls; mean age: 47 hr) assessed for imitation of tongue protrusion (TP) and mouth opening (MO). The stimuli were presented dynamically, in three 20-second-long gesture modeling intervals, interwoven with three 20-second-long intervals in which the presenter kept a passive face. Imitation of TP emerged among a majority of the infants during the first 60 s of the experiment. In contrast, MO showed a protracted response and a majority exhibited imitation after 60 s. The individual response pattern of the participating infants varied substantially over the course of the experiment. The study provides renewed support for neonatal imitation of MO and TP, and, in addition, suggests that the temporal organization of the responses observed is an important factor to consider, which in turn has methodological and theoretical implications

Recent advances in early memory development: research on typical and atypical children

In order to learn about memory development one must start from the beginning. An infant goes through remarkable changes during the first years of life; they begin to crawl, talk, and actively engage with the world around them. Much too often in the history of psychology, the abilities present during the first years of life have been neglected, overlooked, or not given much weight in theory building. For example, because adults fail to recall events from the first years of their life, assumptions were made about the nature and form of memory during early development (for review,see Hayne & Jack, 2011). We do not claim that everything needed for mature memory abilities is there from the beginning, but most of the observations to date make us feel confident in stating that the memory of infants is much better than previously believed

Pretend play, deferred imitation and parent-child interaction in speaking and non-speaking children with autism

This study investigates spontaneous pretend play during a parent-child free play observation, and deferred imitation observed in an experimental setting in speaking and non-speaking children with autism in comparison to children with typical development. Both groups of children with autism showed a reduced level of deferred imitation compared to the typically developing group, but only the non-speaking children with autism spent significantly less time in pretend play compared to children with typical development. Deferred imitation was related to parents’ verbal interaction in both groups. An analysis of the parent-child interaction revealed that parents of children with autism used less synchronized comments compared to parents of typically developing children. Parents of the speaking group with autism used more synchronized than unsynchronized comments, while parents of the non-speaking group used the same amount of synchronized and unsynchronized comments. These findings are discussed in terms of how the developmental level affects behaviour and interaction in autism.Children with autism and joint attention - a prerequisite for early social and communicative developmen