Food Waste to Bio-Products

The goal of this project was to design and evaluate a project for the collection and processing of food waste and spent oil in Philadelphia. The project was designed to handle 5% of the total commercial waste generated in Philadelphia. This amounted to approximately 9,700 tons/year of food waste and 73,000 gallons/year of spent oil. The process was designed to utilize a BIOFerm™ Dry Fermentation Digestion System. Following the digestion, the biogas produced is passed through a Caterpillar CG132-12 Generator Set, producing electricity to be sold back to the local grid. The digestate from the anaerobic digestion is used to produce compost, providing an additional revenue stream. In addition to handling the solid food waste, the project is designed to convert the collected spent oil into biodiesel using prepackaged processing units by Springboard Biodiesel. The facility is anticipated to annually produce 2,541 tons of biogas, 5,184,000 kWh of electricity, 14,756 tons of compost, and 59,616 gallons of biodiesel. A rigorous profitability analysis was conducted in order to project cash flows for fifteen years. The total capital investment of the plant is $5.6MM and the expected NPV of the project is -($682,000). The estimated IRR of the project is 12% and the 3-year ROI is 7%. Given the project’s negative NPV, our recommendation is to adopt such a process solely for environmentally beneficial waste management purposes. A key takeway is that in order for such a project to be profitable it would need to target more than just 5% of the total commercial food waste produced

User-initialized active contour segmentation and golden-angle real-time cardiovascular magnetic resonance enable accurate assessment of LV function in patients with sinus rhythm and arrhythmias.

BackgroundData obtained during arrhythmia is retained in real-time cardiovascular magnetic resonance (rt-CMR), but there is limited and inconsistent evidence to show that rt-CMR can accurately assess beat-to-beat variation in left ventricular (LV) function or during an arrhythmia.MethodsMulti-slice, short axis cine and real-time golden-angle radial CMR data was collected in 22 clinical patients (18 in sinus rhythm and 4 patients with arrhythmia). A user-initialized active contour segmentation (ACS) software was validated via comparison to manual segmentation on clinically accepted software. For each image in the 2D acquisitions, slice volume was calculated and global LV volumes were estimated via summation across the LV using multiple slices. Real-time imaging data was reconstructed using different image exposure times and frame rates to evaluate the effect of temporal resolution on measured function in each slice via ACS. Finally, global volumetric function of ectopic and non-ectopic beats was measured using ACS in patients with arrhythmias.ResultsACS provides global LV volume measurements that are not significantly different from manual quantification of retrospectively gated cine images in sinus rhythm patients. With an exposure time of 95.2 ms and a frame rate of > 89 frames per second, golden-angle real-time imaging accurately captures hemodynamic function over a range of patient heart rates. In four patients with frequent ectopic contractions, initial quantification of the impact of ectopic beats on hemodynamic function was demonstrated.ConclusionUser-initialized active contours and golden-angle real-time radial CMR can be used to determine time-varying LV function in patients. These methods will be very useful for the assessment of LV function in patients with frequent arrhythmias

User-initialized active contour segmentation and golden-angle real-time cardiovascular magnetic resonance enable accurate assessment of LV function in patients with sinus rhythm and arrhythmias

BACKGROUND: Data obtained during arrhythmia is retained in real-time cardiovascular magnetic resonance (rt-CMR), but there is limited and inconsistent evidence to show that rt-CMR can accurately assess beat-to-beat variation in left ventricular (LV) function or during an arrhythmia. METHODS: Multi-slice, short axis cine and real-time golden-angle radial CMR data was collected in 22 clinical patients (18 in sinus rhythm and 4 patients with arrhythmia). A user-initialized active contour segmentation (ACS) software was validated via comparison to manual segmentation on clinically accepted software. For each image in the 2D acquisitions, slice volume was calculated and global LV volumes were estimated via summation across the LV using multiple slices. Real-time imaging data was reconstructed using different image exposure times and frame rates to evaluate the effect of temporal resolution on measured function in each slice via ACS. Finally, global volumetric function of ectopic and non-ectopic beats was measured using ACS in patients with arrhythmias. RESULTS: ACS provides global LV volume measurements that are not significantly different from manual quantification of retrospectively gated cine images in sinus rhythm patients. With an exposure time of 95.2 ms and a frame rate of > 89 frames per second, golden-angle real-time imaging accurately captures hemodynamic function over a range of patient heart rates. In four patients with frequent ectopic contractions, initial quantification of the impact of ectopic beats on hemodynamic function was demonstrated. CONCLUSION: User-initialized active contours and golden-angle real-time radial CMR can be used to determine time-varying LV function in patients. These methods will be very useful for the assessment of LV function in patients with frequent arrhythmias

User-initialized active contour segmentation and golden-angle real-time cardiovascular magnetic resonance enable accurate assessment of LV function in patients with sinus rhythm and arrhythmias.

BackgroundData obtained during arrhythmia is retained in real-time cardiovascular magnetic resonance (rt-CMR), but there is limited and inconsistent evidence to show that rt-CMR can accurately assess beat-to-beat variation in left ventricular (LV) function or during an arrhythmia.MethodsMulti-slice, short axis cine and real-time golden-angle radial CMR data was collected in 22 clinical patients (18 in sinus rhythm and 4 patients with arrhythmia). A user-initialized active contour segmentation (ACS) software was validated via comparison to manual segmentation on clinically accepted software. For each image in the 2D acquisitions, slice volume was calculated and global LV volumes were estimated via summation across the LV using multiple slices. Real-time imaging data was reconstructed using different image exposure times and frame rates to evaluate the effect of temporal resolution on measured function in each slice via ACS. Finally, global volumetric function of ectopic and non-ectopic beats was measured using ACS in patients with arrhythmias.ResultsACS provides global LV volume measurements that are not significantly different from manual quantification of retrospectively gated cine images in sinus rhythm patients. With an exposure time of 95.2 ms and a frame rate of > 89 frames per second, golden-angle real-time imaging accurately captures hemodynamic function over a range of patient heart rates. In four patients with frequent ectopic contractions, initial quantification of the impact of ectopic beats on hemodynamic function was demonstrated.ConclusionUser-initialized active contours and golden-angle real-time radial CMR can be used to determine time-varying LV function in patients. These methods will be very useful for the assessment of LV function in patients with frequent arrhythmias

Quantification of Left Ventricular Function With Premature Ventricular Complexes Reveals Variable Hemodynamics.

BackgroundPremature ventricular complexes (PVCs) are prevalent in the general population and are sometimes associated with reduced ventricular function. Current echocardiographic and cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging techniques do not adequately address the effect of PVCs on left ventricular function.Methods and resultsFifteen subjects with a history of frequent PVCs undergoing cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging had real-time slice volume quantification performed using a 2-dimensional (2D) real-time cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging technique. Synchronization of 2D real-time imaging with patient ECG allowed for different beats to be categorized by the loading beat RR duration and beat RR duration. For each beat type, global volumes were quantified via summation over all slices covering the entire ventricle. Different patterns of ectopy, including isolated PVCs, bigeminy, trigeminy, and interpolated PVCs, were observed. Global functional measurement of the different beat types based on timing demonstrated differences in preload, stroke volume, and ejection fraction. An average of hemodynamic function was quantified for each subject depending on the frequency of each observed beat type.ConclusionsApplication of real-time cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in patients with PVCs revealed differential contribution of PVCs to hemodynamics

Quantification of Left Ventricular Function With Premature Ventricular Complexes Reveals Variable Hemodynamics.

BackgroundPremature ventricular complexes (PVCs) are prevalent in the general population and are sometimes associated with reduced ventricular function. Current echocardiographic and cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging techniques do not adequately address the effect of PVCs on left ventricular function.Methods and resultsFifteen subjects with a history of frequent PVCs undergoing cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging had real-time slice volume quantification performed using a 2-dimensional (2D) real-time cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging technique. Synchronization of 2D real-time imaging with patient ECG allowed for different beats to be categorized by the loading beat RR duration and beat RR duration. For each beat type, global volumes were quantified via summation over all slices covering the entire ventricle. Different patterns of ectopy, including isolated PVCs, bigeminy, trigeminy, and interpolated PVCs, were observed. Global functional measurement of the different beat types based on timing demonstrated differences in preload, stroke volume, and ejection fraction. An average of hemodynamic function was quantified for each subject depending on the frequency of each observed beat type.ConclusionsApplication of real-time cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in patients with PVCs revealed differential contribution of PVCs to hemodynamics