Theoretical Comparison between a Traditional Anaerobic Digestion and an Innovative One

The paper, after analyzing the technical characteristics of anaerobic digestion traditional plants of zootechnical effluents, identifies those relating to an innovative system, which divides the evolutionary stages of biodegradation of the material in hydrogenesis aerobic, hydrogenesis anaerobic, acidogenesis-acetogenesis and methanogenesis. The theoretical treatment will have to find validation in the pilot plant which will be building and from which it will be possible to determine additional technical, economic, and environmental indications

Master programme in management engineering and integrated logistics at the University of Trieste and Hochshule OstWestfalen-Lippe

The program of the Double Degree Master in "Production Engineering and Management" between the University of Trieste and that of Lemgo-Lippe was described, planned and implemented. The strengths of the Italian-German program and the peculiarities that distinguish it are also identified (mainly theoretical basis in Italy and application in Germany). In particular, we highlight the presence of a "Smart Factory OWL" laboratory for teaching activities in the field of Enabling technologies of Industry 4.0

Redevelopment of a manufacturing factory in an energy generation plant with wood biomass

A manufacturing company, which uses obsolete processes and technologies, due to the economic crisis, is evaluating a possible conversion to the energy sector. The paper presents a careful analysis of local resources in the mountain area of Carnia (Italy), identifying the available wood biomass, using Geographic Information System (GIS) instruments. The biomass can be exploited in energy generation plants and represents, a good option with a high margin of profit and takes advantage of the district heating technology. The technical feasibility also used numeric regional cartography to assess the energy needs, while the economic feasibility is highly influenced by local regulations on public incentives, established to reach the environmental goals set by the international treaties. On the other hand, the environmental sustainability of these plants is often positive, even if related to the local context. The consequent reduction of CO2 emissions is relevant, as long as the location of the boiler room is correctly identified in order to optimize the supply chain from the forests to the plant

Hydraulic and thermal characterization of a family of thermo-hydraulic separators

Thermal-hydraulic separators (or hydraulic dispatchers) are flow collectors of relatively small size, connecting two or more hydraulic networks; they are mainly used to reduce the hydraulic interference of primary (e.g. heat supply) and secondary (e.g. heat consumer) circuits, thereby simplifying the system analysis, saving energy and operating complex hydraulic networks more safely. Hydraulic dispatchers are key components of modern district heating networks and of building water systems: nonetheless, little is known about their internal flow and temperature distribution and about their off-design performance. The transfer of thermal energy from the primary to the secondary circuit is governed by the secondary-to-primary flow rate ratio and affected by the turbulent mixing within the device. A simple thermal model is commonly used for design purposes: it disregards the actual flow and temperature pattern within the device and relates the inflow and outflow temperature by neglecting the mixing of supply and return streams. This simple approach is potentially inaccurate under certain operating conditions (e.g. relatively high flow rates) and deserves a validation study. Numerical simulations of flow and heat transfer are carried out, for a family of geometrically similar thermal-hydraulic separators under different operating condition. The reported numerical tests show that the aforementioned model is a reliable design tool under most operation conditions. Furthermore, it is verified that the device introduces a relatively modest pressure loss on the connected circuits, in particular when the flow rate ratio is close to one

Economical Analysis of Alternative Uses of Biogas Produced by an Anaerobic Digestion Plant

In the frame of the Italian market and regulations, some alternative uses of biogas produced by an anaerobic digestion plant fuelled by zootechnical effluents, integrated with corn silage, are investigated. In particular, on the basis of an existing plant, the following alternatives to the use of the generated biogas are analyzed and compared under the economical point of view: use of a cogeneration plant to produce electric energy (self-consumption and sale of the surplus to the power supply network operator) and thermal energy (digester and post-digester heating, and feeding of a cereal dryer); use of a trigeneration plant to produce electric energy (self-consumption and sale of the surplus to the power supply network operator) and thermal/refrigeration energy (heating of the digester and post-digester, and air conditioning of the company\u2019s warehouses); use of a regenerative water-based scrubbing plant for up-grading the quality of the produced biogas, obtaining biomethane for direct sale to the network operator. This comparison is carried out considering the technical differences between the three alternatives, as well as the related investment and operative costs. A sensitivity analysis on the main parameters influencing the payback time of the three alternatives has been also carried out, showing that the most important parameter to consider is the cost of energy (as either electric or biomethane vector). On these grounds, using the Net Present Value approach, an assessment of the most convenient option in terms of shortest payback time and highest returns is made

Logistica industriale

In uno scenario sempre pi\uf9 complesso, le imprese industriali devo reagire con prontezza e flessibilit\ue0 per affrontare e gestire i cambiamenti tecnologici innovativi, in modo da competere in mercati sempre pi\uf9 globalizzati. La logistica industriale o business logistics costituisce uno degli elementi fondamentali per la gestione di un\u2019attivit\ue0 di produzione, che si pone come obiettivo la gestione fisica, informativa ed organizzativa del flusso di prodotti in tutta la supply chain, cio\ue8 dalle fonti di approvvigionamento ai clienti finali. Secondo la definizione data dall'Associazione Italiana di Logistica (AILOG), \ue8 l'insieme delle attivit\ue0 organizzative, gestionali e strategiche che governano nell'azienda i flussi di materiali e delle relative informazioni dalle origini presso i fornitori fino alla consegna dei prodotti finiti ai clienti e al servizio post-vendita", mentre per la Society of Logistic Engineering (SOLE) \ue8 l\u2019"arte e la scienza dell'organizzazione, della progettazione e dell'attivit\ue0 tecnica riguardante i requisiti, la definizione, la fornitura e le risorse necessarie a supportare obiettivi, piani ed operazioni". Questo testo si suddivide in nove capitoli: - la logistica; - le scorte; - i processi di pianificazione; - la gestione dei materiali; - il processo di razionalizzazione del sistema logistico; - il sistema logistico; - gli acquisti; - check up e nascita ed evoluzione di un sistema logistico; - esercizi di logistica. L\u2019autore ha cercato di sviluppare gli argomenti con una ricchezza illustrativa, corredando il testo di numerosi esempi a scopo esemplificativo. Le soluzioni tecniche dei problemi sono trattate in modo esaustivo e ci\uf2 conferisce al testo una valenza di linea guida suscettibile di ulteriori analisi metodologiche e di specifici approfondimenti da parte degli allievi

Lean organization

Dopo aver definito l'organizzazione aziendale e l'evoluzione delle strutture organizzative, si \ue8 analizzata quella per famiglie di prodotto e flusso di valore, al fine di identificare le peculiari caratteristiche della lean organization. Si sono quindi esaminati i processi, i ruoli, le strutture, i processi, le funzioni, i ruoli e le responsabilit\ue0 nell'organizzazione snella

Analysis and improvement of the productive activity of a preforming cell

As a result of the analysis of the processes, through the study of the production factors, with particular reference to the present machines, manpower used and operating practices, and the study of the material flow in a pre-forming cell located within the forging department of a company that produces blades for gas and steam turbines, the introduction of a new manufacturing process inside the cell was undertaken. In addition to the heating procedures of the electric rotary furnace, the hot forging with the hydraulic press, the cogging operation with the pre-forming machine, and to the manual handling of the parts, an upsetting process was introduced to improve the technological features of the finished product. A logical-mathematical model was developed, verified and validated with Arena simulation software to study the cell performance in the new productive configuration. This method allowed the evaluation and experimentation of different productive scenarios, so as to verify the performance indicators, identify the operational constraints that may affect the system and evaluate alternative designs

Redevelopment of a production activity in an energy generation plant powered with wood biomass

The worldwide economic crisis started in 2007 has involved almost every production sector and has had a higher impact on companies that were located in particular areas, such the mountainous ones, and on those activities that involved quite an obsolete process and technology. Searching new solution for saving the activity could also consider a total change for the company and its transformation to an energy generator plant, which would use local biomass to produce electric energy and hot water. This kind of intervention can be a good opportunity, especially if also public incentive is available. This research starts from a previous one, which considers such a situation for a company located in Carnia (Italy northeast) and verifies the solutions found, considering the variation of the public incentives. The old solutions are no more effective, due to the lack of incentive for the electric energy generation, but the improvement of the thermal section of the proposed plant reveals still an economic advantage and an important impact to the reduction of CO2 emissions

OKVIRNI NA\u10cRT O NAPRAVI ZA OGREVANJE NA DALJAVO NA GOZDNO-BIOMASNI POGON V GORSKEM OBMO\u10cJU

The work presents the preliminary design of a district heating plant for a municipality in the mountain area using forest biomass. After presenting the data concerning the availability of biomass and evaluating the energy needs of a specific catchment area, the results of the sizing of the biomass-based energy generation system of forestry origin and of the heat transfer fluid distribution network were presented. the methodology used can be extended to other realities with similar characteristics