Economic Evaluation of Membrane Systems for Large Scale Capture and Storage of CO2 Mixtures

The capture and storage of CO2 (CCS) as a greenhouse mitigation option is becoming an increasingly important priority for Australian industry. Membrane based CO2 removal systems can provide a cost effective, low maintenance approach for removing CO2 from gas streams. This study examines the effect of membrane characteristics and operating parameters on CCS costs using economic models developed by UNSW for any source-sink combination. The total sequestration cost per tonne of CO2 avoided for separation, transport and storage are compared for the separation of CO2 from coal fired power plants and natural gas processing. A cost benefit analysis indicates that sequestration of gases of high purities are dominated by compression costs which can be off-set by utilising membranes of higher selectivity coupled with higher permeability to reduce the required transmembrane pressure

Changes in surface chemical composition relating to rehydration properties of spray-dried camel milk powder during accelerated storage

Alterations in surface chemical composition relating to rehydration properties of spray-dried camel milk powders during accelerated storage (11–33% RH, 37 °C) over 18 weeks were investigated. The results showed that the surface of the fresh spray-dried camel milk powder (t = 0) was dominated by lipids (78%), followed by proteins (16%) and lactose (6%). During storage, the surface protein and lactose content decreased while the surface lipid content increased, resulting in an increase in surface hydrophobicity and slight agglomeration of the powder, especially for powder kept at 33% RH. Although fresh camel milk powder had very poor wettability, it displayed very high dispersibility and solubility (99%). During storage, dispersibility and solubility declined with increasing storage time and increasing RH levels, which correlated with an increase in surface lipid content. However, at the end of the storage period, camel milk powder still retained very high solubility (>93%).Peer reviewe

On how religions could accidentally incite lies and violence: folktales as a cultural transmitter

Folklore has a critical role as a cultural transmitter, all the while being a socially accepted medium for the expressions of culturally contradicting wishes and conducts. In this study of Vietnamese folktales, through the use of Bayesian multilevel modeling and the Markov chain Monte Carlo technique, we offer empirical evidence for how the interplay between religious teachings (Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism) and deviant behaviors (lying and violence) could affect a folktale’s outcome. The findings indicate that characters who lie and/or commit violent acts tend to have bad endings, as intuition would dictate, but when they are associated with any of the above Three Teachings, the final endings may vary. Positive outcomes are seen in cases where characters associated with Confucianism lie and characters associated with Buddhism act violently. The results supplement the worldwide literature on discrepancies between folklore and real-life conduct, as well as on the contradictory human behaviors vis-à-vis religious teachings. Overall, the study highlights the complexity of human decision-making, especially beyond the folklore realm

IPC02-27251 MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AUDITS: A PATH TOWARDS SAFER PIPELINES

ABSTRACT The National Energy Board of Canada (NEB), a federal energy regulator, has implemented a management system audit program as a tool to verify compliance with its predominantly goal-oriented Onshore Pipeline Regulations, 1999 (OPR) [1]. The OPR allow individual companies to choose the most effective way to manage their pipeline systems. The audit program is based on expected elements that the NEB believes are necessary to meet the goals of the OPR. This paper will explain why these audits and expected elements are necessary and describe how goal-oriented regulations will enhance pipeline safety. The audits conducted to date have identified several challenges that the NEB and pipeline companies face in pursuit of the goal of safe pipelines; these will be described and possible solutions will be proposed. The overall objective of the paper is to explain the benefits of using a management system approach to direct a company's pipeline integrity management program and what is required of companies to meet the expectations of the NEB

Post-combustion CO2 capture from natural gas combined cycles by solvent supported membranes

AbstractAmong the CO2 separation technologies, CO2 membranes are currently receiving an increasing interest, largely thanks to the development of solvents such as ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents, which are suitable for use in solvent supported membrane systems. The aim of this work is to perform a techno-economic analysis of a natural gas-fired combined cycle power plant integrating CO2 membranes. Such a configuration is based on a two-membrane system, the first one separating the CO2 for final sequestration, the second one used to generate a selective CO2-rich flue gas recycle. The techno-economic assessment uses three modelling tools: (i) process modelling of the complete power plant, performed with the in-house GS code and Aspen Plus, (ii) modelling of the membrane, performed with a finite difference method implemented in Matlab and (iii) economic modelling by a bottom-up approach. The final material balances show that using a moderate pressurization of the combined cycle flue gas results in the lowest energy loss and lowest capture cost

Analysis of viscoelastic flow by a radial basis function networks method

This paper presents a new mesh-free method based on MultiQuadric (MQ) Radial Basis Function Networks (RBFNs) for the analysis of visoelastic flows. The method uses universal approximation RBFNs to represent the numerical solution of Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) governing visoelastic flows. The main advantages of the method are its mesh-free nature and ease of implementation. The working of the method is demonstrated in detail with the simulation of the visoelastic flow through straight (Poiseuille flow) and corrugated tubes. In the case of corrugated tube flow, the irregularly shaped domain is extended to a regularly shaped one in order to simplify the pre-processing. The method achieves the Weissenberg number of at least up to 100 for the poiseuille flow of UCM and Oldroyd-B fluids using a collocation density of 6 x 6 and about 4 for the corrugated tube flow of Oldroyd-B fluid using a collocation density of 13 x 25

How Digital Natives Learn and Thrive in the Digital Age: Evidence from an Emerging Economy

As a generation of ‘digital natives,’ secondary students who were born from 2002 to 2010 have various approaches to acquiring digital knowledge. Digital literacy and resilience are crucial for them to navigate the digital world as much as the real world; however, these remain under-researched subjects, especially in developing countries. In Vietnam, the education system has put considerable effort into teaching students these skills to promote quality education as part of the United Nations-defined Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4). This issue has proven especially salient amid the COVID−19 pandemic lockdowns, which had obliged most schools to switch to online forms of teaching. This study, which utilizes a dataset of 1061 Vietnamese students taken from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s “Digital Kids Asia Pacific (DKAP)” project, employs Bayesian statistics to explore the relationship between the students’ background and their digital abilities. Results show that economic status and parents’ level of education are positively correlated with digital literacy. Students from urban schools have only a slightly higher level of digital literacy than their rural counterparts, suggesting that school location may not be a defining explanatory element in the variation of digital literacy and resilience among Vietnamese students. Students’ digital literacy and, especially resilience, also have associations with their gender. Moreover, as students are digitally literate, they are more likely to be digitally resilient. Following SDG4, i.e., Quality Education, it is advisable for schools, and especially parents, to seriously invest in creating a safe, educational environment to enhance digital literacy among students