Thermochemical energy storage by consecutive reactions for higher efficient concentrated solar power plants (CSP): Proof of concept

Concentrated solar power plants (CSP) combined with thermal energy storage (TES) offers the benefit to provide continuous electricity production by renewable energy feed. There are several TES technologies to be implemented, being the thermochemical energy storage the less studied and the most attractive since its volumetric energy density is 5 and 10 times higher than latent and sensible TES, respectively. Thermochemical energy storage technology is based on reversible chemical reactions, also named thermochemical materials (TCM). One of the main challenges of TCM is to achieve a proper reversibility of the reactions, which in practical conditions leads to lower efficiencies than the theoretically expected. A new concept based on changing from reversible TCM reactions towards TCM consecutive reactions aims to eliminate reversibility problems and therefore improve the overall efficiency. Consecutive TCM reactions can either be based in one cycle, where reactants are needed to feed the reaction, or two coupled cycles which offer the possibility to work without any extra mass reactants input. The plausibility of the implementation of both concepts in CSP is detailed in this paper and case studies are described for each one

Molecular profiling and feasibility using a comprehensive hybrid capture panel on a consecutive series of non-small-cell lung cancer patients from a single centre

Background: Targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) is recommended to screen actionable genomic alterations (GAs) in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We determined the feasibility to detect actionable GAs using TruSight™ Oncology 500 (TSO500) in 200 consecutive patients with NSCLC. Materials and methods: DNA and RNA were sequenced on an Illumina® NextSeq 550 instrument and processed using the TSO500 Docker pipeline. Clinical actionability was defined within the molecular tumour board following European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) guidelines for oncogene-addicted NSCLC. Overall survival (OS) was estimated as per the presence of druggable GAs and treatment with targeted therapy. Results: Most patients were males (69.5%) and former or current smokers (86.5%). Median age was 64 years. The most common histological type and tumour stage were lung adenocarcinoma (81%) and stage IV (64%), respectively. Sequencing was feasible in most patients (93.5%) and actionable GAs were found in 26.5% of patients. A high concordance was observed between single-gene testing and TSO500 NGS panel. Patients harbouring druggable GAs and receiving targeted therapy achieved longer OS compared to patients without druggable GAs. Conversely, patients with druggable GAs not receiving targeted therapy had a trend toward shorter OS compared with driver-negative patients. Conclusions: Hybrid capture sequencing using TSO500 panel is feasible to analyse clinical samples from patients with NSCLC and is an efficient tool for screening actionable GAs

Association of a single nucleotide polymorphism combination pattern of the Klotho gene with non-cardiovascular death in patients with chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with an elevated risk of all-cause mortality, with cardiovascular death being extensively investigated. However, non-cardiovascular mortality represents the biggest percentage, showing an evident increase in recent years. Klotho is a gene highly expressed in the kidney, with a clear influence on lifespan. Low levels of Klotho have been linked to CKD progression and adverse outcomes. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the Klotho gene have been associated with several diseases, but studies investigating the association of Klotho SNPs with noncardiovascular death in CKD populations are lacking. The main aim of this study was to assess whether 11 Klotho SNPs were associated with non-cardiovascular death in a subpopulation of the National Observatory of Atherosclerosis in Nephrology (NEFRONA) study (n ¼ 2185 CKD patients). After 48 months of follow-up, 62 cardiovascular deaths and 108 non-cardiovascular deaths were recorded. We identified a high non-cardiovascular death risk combination of SNPs corresponding to individuals carrying the most frequent allele (G) at rs562020, the rare allele (C) at rs2283368 and homozygotes for the rare allele (G) at rs2320762 (rs562020 GG/AG þ rs2283368 CC/CT þ rs2320762 GG). Among the patients with the three SNPs genotyped (n ¼ 1016), 75 (7.4%) showed this combination. Furthermore, 95 (9.3%) patients showed a low-risk combination carrying all the opposite genotypes (rs562020 AA þ rs2283368 TT þ rs2320762 GT/TT). All the other combinations [n ¼ 846 (83.3%)] were considered as normal risk. Using competing risk regression analysis, we confirmed that the proposed combinations are independently associated with a higher fhazard ratio [HR] 3.28 [confidence interval (CI) 1.51-7.12]g and lower [HR 6 × 10- (95% CI 3.3 × 10--1.1 × 10-)] risk of suffering a non-cardiovascular death in the CKD population of the NEFRONA cohort compared with patients with the normal-risk combination. Determination of three SNPs of the Klotho gene could help in the prediction of non-cardiovascular death in CKD

Materials selection of steam-phase change material (PCM) heat exchanger for thermal energy storage systems in direct steam generation facilities

Phase change materials (PCM) is one of the most interesting solutions to be used in thermal energy storage (TES) systems for direct steam generation (DSG) thermosolar facilities. Properties such as high energy density and energy storing/delivery at constant temperature bring PCM based systems in excellent candidates for DSG facility storage units. Accordingly, LiOH-KOH peritectic mixture, with a melting point of 315 °C and an enthalpy change of 535 kJ/kg, has been reported as attractive solution for the saturated storage module in DSG plants. A steam-PCM heat exchanger is the critical component to carry out the thermal transference between both substances. Although materials selection to be applied for steam applications is well known, lack of knowledge is detected in the field of high temperature hydroxides corrosion. Therefore, three metallic materials, A516 Gr70 carbon steel, A316L stainless steel and Inconel 625 Ni-base alloy, have been evaluated to determine their corrosion performance after hydroxides exposure. While A516 Gr70 was discarded for this application due to high corrosion rates, A316L and Inconel 625 displayed good corrosion resistance after 2640 h. Finally, A316L stainless steel was selected as potential candidate for the construction of the steam-PCM heat exchanger considering cost and thermal efficiency optimization.The research leading to these results has received funding from CDTI in the project Innterconecta Thesto (ITC-20111050). The work is partially funded by the Spanish Government (ENE2011-28269-C03- 02, ENE2011-22722, ENE2015-64117-C5-1-R, and ENE2015-64117- C5-2-R). The authors would like to thank the Catalan Government for the quality accreditation given to their research group GREA (2014 SGR 123) and research group DIOPMA (2014 SGR 1543)