Nudging states with policy and regulation : the impact of the state aid modernisation in the European economic area

Defence date: 3 June 2020 (Online)Examining Board: Prof. Giorgio Monti (EUI, Supervisor); Prof. Emeritius Marise Cremona (EUI); Prof. Leigh Hancher (University of Tilburg); Prof. Erling Hjelmeng (University of Oslo)The thesis asks: What impact does the State aid Modernisation reform have on law enforcement in the European Economic Area (EEA)? The hypothesis is that adjustments in procedural and substantive law can nudge States expenditure and increase the overall coherence in the application of a legal framework. The study highlights some obvious side effects and positive aspects of State aid enforcement under the EEA-model that deserves attention from EU enforcers of State aid law. The outcome of the reform is tested against four benchmarks: (i) efficiency, in reducing notifications to focus on cases with the most impact on the internal market and increase decisional speed, (ii) transparency on how aid measures are assessed both centrally and nationally, (iii) the “userfriendliness” of the legal framework, assessed by the user-frequency and how harmonised terms in regulations and guidelines are, and whether the reform boosts (iv) coherence of States application and expenditure. The thesis is divided in three parts covering all procedural and substantive changes. Part I assesses new and amended tools in the Procedural Regulation, used by the supranational authorities at a centralised level. Part II assesses the three new procedural elements in the General Block Exemption Regulation, which ensures procedures for the States to comply with State aid at a decentralised level. Part III assesses the substantive amendments to block-exemptions and guidelines. The thesis particularly evaluates, whether the right balance is struck between centralised (supranational) and decentralised (national) application of State aid regulation in the reform – and assesses the success of the privatization of legal enforcement at national level. The empirical findings indicate that the amendments are efficient at freeing the Commission’s time and nudging States aid expenditures. However, there is still potential for a greater impact if the transparency was increased and thresholds of the information collection tools were lowered

Biphenyl-4,4′-dicarb­oxy­lic acid N,N-dimethyl­formamide monosolvate

Biphenyl-4,4′-dicarb­oxy­lic acid was recrystallized from N,N-dimethyl­formamide (DMF) yielding the title compound, C14H10O4·2C3H7NO. The acid mol­ecules are located on crystallographic centres of inversion and are hydrogen bonded to DMF mol­ecules. These hydrogen-bonded units form infinite chains although there is no inter­action between the methyl groups of neighboring DMF mol­ecules

Poly[tris­(μ-2-amino­benzene-1,4-dicarboxyl­ato)tetra­kis­(N,N-dimethyl­formamide)­diyttrium(III)]

The asymmetric unit of the title coordination polymer, [Y2(C8H5NO4)3(C3H7NO)4]n, contains one Y3+ ion, three half-mol­ecules of the 2-amino­benzene-1,4-dicarboxyl­ate (abz) dianion and two O-bonded N,N-dimethyl­formamide (DMF) mol­ecules. Each abz half-mol­ecule is completed by crystallographic inversion symmetry and its –NH2 group is disordered in each case [relative occupancies within the asymmetric unit = 0.462 (18):0.538 (18), 0.93 (2):0.07 (2) and 0.828 (16):0.172 (16)]. The combination of disorder and crystal symmetry means that each of the four C—H atoms of the benzene ring of each of the dianions bears a statistical fraction of an –NH2 group. The coordination geometry of the yttrium ion is a fairly regular YO8 square anti­prism arising from its coordination by two DMF mol­ecules, four monodentate abz dianions and one O,O-bidentate abz dianion. The polymeric building unit is a dimeric paddle-wheel with two metal ions linked by four bridging abz dianions. Further bridging linkages connect the dimers into a three-dimensional framework containing voids in which highly disordered DMF mol­ecules are presumed to reside

Influence of post-synthetic modifications on the composition, acidity and textural properties of ZSM-22 zeolite

[EN] In this work, an extensive investigation of the preparation of a large body of desilicated ZSM-22 zeolites and their basic characterization is presented. We investigate the effects of the properties of the starting zeolite, and we employ mixtures of NaOH with CTAB or TBAOH as well as subsequent acid washings to create mesoporous zeolites. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy and nitrogen adsorption revealed that the cristal morphology of the starting zeolite appears to be the dominant parameter which influences the mesopore generation. Mesopores were effectively created within the rod-like commercial crystallites, whereas the thinner dimensions of the needle-shaped particles of the lab-made zeolite represent an obstacle for an intra-mesopore creation. The alkaline, surfactant-assisted or combined NaOH/TBAOH desilication methods resulted in mesopores with different shape and size from the commercial zeolite. The sequential acid washing generally resulted in increased micropore volume with respect to the desilicated samples. Elemental analysis showed that extra-framework Al species were generated upon the desilication treatments, which are eventually removed by the acid treatment. The acidity studied by FTIR demonstrated that this occurs without a marked modification of the Brønsted acidity, whereas the concentration of surface silanol hydroxyl groups is increased. The comparison between the total Al concentration and the amount of Al in acidic sites quantified by pyridine adsorption shows that the acidity was recovered after the acid washing and suggests that original non-acidic Al species in the starting materials may have a role in the formation of both Lewis and extra-framework species upon desilication.This publication is a part of the inGAP Centre of research-based Innovation, which receives financial support from the Norwegian Research Council under contract no. 174893. F.R and M.T.N thank to MINECO for financial support through projects MAT2015-71842-P and SEV-2012-0267. All the authors thank the Electron Microscopy Service of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia.Del Campo Huertas, P.; Beato, P.; Rey Garcia, F.; Navarro, MT.; Olsbye, U.; Lillerud, K.; Svelle, S. (2018). Influence of post-synthetic modifications on the composition, acidity and textural properties of ZSM-22 zeolite. Catalysis Today. 299:120-134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cattod.2017.04.042S12013429

Co-catalyst free ethene dimerization over Zr-based metal-organic framework (UiO-67) functionalized with Ni and bipyridine

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MAPO-18 Catalysts for the Methanol to Olefins Process: Influence of Catalyst Acidity in a High-Pressure Syngas (CO and H2) Environment

The transition from integrated petrochemical complexes toward decentralized chemical plants utilizing distributed feedstocks calls for simpler downstream unit operations. Less separation steps are attractive for future scenarios and provide an opportunity to design the next-generation catalysts, which function efficiently with effluent reactant mixtures. The methanol to olefins (MTO) reaction constitutes the second step in the conversion of CO2, CO, and H2 to light olefins. We present a series of isomorphically substituted zeotype catalysts with the AEI topology (MAPO-18s, M = Si, Mg, Co, or Zn) and demonstrate the superior performance of the M(II)-substituted MAPO-18s in the conversion of MTO when tested at 350 °C and 20 bar with reactive feed mixtures consisting of CH3OH/CO/CO2/H2. Co-feeding high pressure H2 with methanol improved the catalyst activity over time, but simultaneously led to the hydrogenation of olefins (olefin/paraffin ratio < 0.5). Co-feeding H2/CO/CO2/N2 mixtures with methanol revealed an important, hitherto undisclosed effect of CO in hindering the hydrogenation of olefins over the Brønsted acid sites (BAS). This effect was confirmed by dedicated ethene hydrogenation studies in the absence and presence of CO co-feed. Assisted by spectroscopic investigations, we ascribe the favorable performance of M(II)APO-18 under co-feed conditions to the importance of the M(II) heteroatom in altering the polarity of the M–O bond, leading to stronger BAS. Comparing SAPO-18 and MgAPO-18 with BAS concentrations ranging between 0.2 and 0.4 mmol/gcat, the strength of the acidic site and not the density was found to be the main activity descriptor. MgAPO-18 yielded the highest activity and stability upon syngas co-feeding with methanol, demonstrating its potential to be a next-generation MTO catalyst

Modeling gas turbine materials’ hot corrosion degradation in combustion environments from H2‐rich syngas

Components of gas turbines (such as blades, vanes, combustor cans) exposed to combustion environments at high temperature are susceptible to hot corrosion attack. To successfully plan maintenance and to determine whether to operate in novel combustion modes (e.g., in integrated gasification combined cycles that incorporate pre-combustion carbon capture) predictions of hot corrosion component life must be made. In this paper, hot corrosion datasets relating to two alloys, MarM 509 (a cobalt-based superalloy), and Rene 80 (a nickel-based superalloy) form the basis of hot corrosion predictive lifetime models. The model framework is based on the two stages of incubation and propagation, with the transitions from incubation to propagation around the samples being based on Weibull statistics. The impact of a range of temperatures (including 700 and 900 °C), gas compositions (simulating the combustion of natural gas, H2-rich syngas, or partially cleaned syngas), and deposit chemistries/fluxes have been assessed. Predictions have been made including the expected damage spread for a range of different exposure conditions