Análisis del impacto ocasionado por el material particulado en el desempeño energético de paneles fotovoltaicos en zonas cercanas a operaciones mineras

La región de Arequipa, ubicada al sur de Perú, se encuentra en los mejores lugares del mundo para la obtención de energía fotovoltaica, ya que los valores de irradiancia solar son de los más altos del planeta, a pesar de ello, no se le da la importancia necesaria a esta tecnología que permite producir energía de una fuente renovable, evitando también la emisión de gases con efecto invernadero, tan solo el 1.44% de la energía en Perú es producida con paneles fotovoltaicos. Se pretende fomentar la utilización de energía solar no solo en el ámbito urbano, sino también en la industria minera la cual es una de las principales actividades económica y consumidoras de electricidad en el país. Estudios previos han demostrado que uno de los principales problemas que enfrentan las plantas fotovoltaicas es la deposición de material particulado, por lo que el objetivo del presente proyecto es hallar la cantidad de gramos por metro cuadrado de polvo depositado sobre un módulo fotovoltaico que provoque un déficit en el rendimiento energético del mismo, los resultados se utilizarán el proyecto de investigación mencionado en la presentación. Para lograrlo, se ubicó un panel fotovoltaico en el distrito de José Luis Bustamante y Rivero en la provincia y departamento de Arequipa, donde el material particulado fue pesado con una balanza de precisión, dando así la obtención de la tasa de deposición de polvo (g/m2), este valor se relacionó con el porcentaje de eficiencia emitida por el prototipo en mención. Los resultados mostraron que existe una reducción de eficiencia total promedio de 60.6% debido a una tasa de deposición de 35 g/m2 en la superficie del panel fotovoltaico analizado experimentalmente. Por lo tanto, los resultados muestran que la presencia de material particulado en el departamento de Arequipa impactará en el desempeño energético del panel fotovoltaico, por ende no podría existir una óptima utilización y futura implementación en la industria minera ya que este sector es uno de los mayores generadores de material particulado en el mundo

Novel process to reduce benzene, thiophene, and pyrrole in gasoline based on [4bmpy][TCM] Ionic Liquid

This document is the accepted version of a published work that appeared in final form in Energy Fuels copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing bu the publisher. to access final edited work see Novel Process to Reduce Benzene, Thiophene, and Pyrrole in Gasoline Based on [4bmpy][TCM] Ionic Liquid Marcos Larriba, Noemí Delgado-Mellado, Pablo Navarro, Roberto Alcover, Cristian Moya, José Palomar, Julián García, and Francisco Rodríguez Energy & Fuels 2018 32 (4), 5650-5658 DOI: 10.1021/acs.energyfuels.8b00529Regulations on benzene-, nitro-, and sulfur-containing aromatic hydrocarbon content in commercial gasolines are becoming more restrictive due to environmental and health issues. The benzene content in reformulated commercial gasoline is currently around 1%. The reduction of benzene levels to comply with future regulations will imply significant changes in refinery configurations. This paper reports a novel extraction process to simultaneously separate benzene, thiophene, and pyrrole from a gasoline using the 1-butyl-4-metylpyridinium tricyanomethanide ([4bmpy][TCM]) ionic liquid (IL). A distillation sequence is also proposed for the isolation of the three aromatic hydrocarbons. The conceptual design of the whole process has been based on experimental data from the liquid-liquid extraction and vapor-liquid separation of benzene, thiophene, and pyrrole from isooctane using the IL [4bmpy][TCM]. A COSMO-based/Aspen Plus methodology has been used to simulate the conceptual design. The a priori COSMO-based/Aspen Plus approach was validated by comparison with the experimental liquid-liquid extraction results and conventional simulations based on experimental distribution ratios and K values. Benzene, thiophene, and pyrrole contents in the gasoline would be reduced from 5.0% to 0.1% using the proposed process with a solvent-to-feed mass ratio of 5.0, and also three streams with high content in each aromatic would be obtained. Increasing the solvent-to-feed mass ratio above 5.0, benzene content in the treated gasoline could be reduced up to 200 ppm.The authors are grateful to Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain and Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid for financial support of Projects CTQ2014–53655-R and S2013/MAE-2800, respectively. N.D.M. thanks MINECO for her FPI grant (Reference BES–2015–072855) and M.L. also thanks MINECO for his Juan de la Cierva-Formación Contract (Reference FJCI-2015-25343). P.N. thanks Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia for awarding him a postdoctoral grant (Reference SFRH/BPD/117084/2016

Virtual Reality, a Method to Achieve Social Acceptance of the Communities Close to Mining Projects: A Scoping Review

"Background: Virtual reality (VR) technology is an effective, interactive and immersive type of communication since it produces greater interest and attention in the user, thereby allowing greater understanding and comprehension than with more traditional methods. On the other hand, not much information is known about the application of this novel technology in the context of social acceptance as far as the mining sector is concerned; our approach and methodology were based on scoping review (Prisma-SrC, Daudt et al., Arksey, and O’Malley). The research terms were also planned before, with the aim of carrying out three posterior screening levels, among which was the use of EndNote 20 and the PICO framework. Exhaustive research was carried out in nine databases. We obtained n=2 research articles of n=923 initially found, all of which went through three levels of filtering. The chosen articles were evaluated according to Hawker et al. 's methodological rigor, to be included in the review. This scoping review could be the starting point for a series of further investigations that would fill the gap in the literature on this topic, emphasizing experimental articles to confirm the impact of virtual reality technologies on the communities within the sphere of influence of a mining project.

COSMO-based/Aspen Plus process simulation of the aromatic extraction from pyrolysis gasoline using the {[4empy][NTf2] + [emim][DCA]} ionic liquid mixture

The ionic liquids (ILs) have been widely studied as potential replacements of conventional solvents in the extraction of aromatic hydrocarbons from alkanes. However, most of the literature is focused in obtaining liquid-liquid equilibria experimental data without studying the complete extraction and IL regeneration process. In this paper, a computer-aided methodology combining COSMO-based molecular simulations and Aspen Plus process simulations has been used to study the extraction process of aromatic hydrocarbons from pyrolysis gasoline employing a binary mixture of 1-ethyl-4-methylpyridinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([4empy][NTf2]) and the 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide ([emim][DCA]) ILs as solvent. An extensive comparison (more than 600 points) between experimental data and the predictions obtained by the COSMO-based thermodynamic model of liquid–liquid and vapor–liquid equilibria and ILs physical properties was made for validation purposes. Process simulations were performed in three system configurations: with one, two, or three flash distillations in the IL recovery section. The potential advantage of using binary IL-IL mixture as extracting solvent was studied in the whole range of composition. The configuration with three flash distillations and the binary IL-IL mixture with a 75% of [4empy][NTf2] were selected as the optimal conditions to increase aromatic recovery and purity, improving the separation performance respect to the neat ILsThe authors are grateful to Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain for financial support of Projects CTQ2014-52288-R and CTQ2014–53655-R and to Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid for the Project S2013/MAE-2800. Noemí Delgado-Mellado also thanks MINECO for awarding them an FPI grant (Reference BES–2015–072855) and Marcos Larriba also thanks MINECO for awarding him a Juan de la Cierva-Formación Contract (Reference FJCI-2015-25343). Pablo Navarro thanks Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia for awarding him a postdoctoral grant (Reference SFRH/BPD/117084/2016)

Applicability of Newmark method at regional, sub-regional and site scales: seismically induced Bullas and La Paca rock-slide cases (Murcia, SE Spain)

In this paper, the applicability of the Newmark method at regional, sub-regional and site scales has been investigated in the Lorca Basin (Murcia). This basin is located in one of the most seismically active regions of Spain. The area is very interesting for studying earthquake-induced slope instabilities as there are well-known cases associated with specific earthquakes. For the regional and sub-regional scales, a geographic information system has been used to develop an implementation of Newmark sliding rigid block method. Soil and topographic amplification effects have been particularly considered. Subsequently, ‘Newmark displacement’ maps for deterministic seismic scenarios have been produced. Some specific studies have also been performed using limit equilibrium methods to estimate the safety factor and the critical acceleration of certain slope instabilities at a site scale. These instabilities were the rock slides related to recent seismic series at the Lorca Basin: 2002 Bullas (Mw = 5.0) and 2005 La Paca (Mw = 4.8). Finally, the safety factor, critical acceleration and Newmark displacement values estimated at different scales have been compared to determine which scale is most suitable for the Newmark method

Recent advances in the application of stable isotopes as nutritional tools in aquaculture

From an ecological point of view, aquaculture systems consist of simple food webs having a limited number of nutritional sources. These characteristics facilitate the application of stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen (δ13C and δ15N) to assess the flow of dietary components. Due to rapid and measurable bioaccumulation of the heavier stable isotopes, such isotopic shifts can be tracked at different times and at each trophic step to provide an indicator of what dietary components are being incorporated into animal tissue and how fast. The present manuscript presents results from recent, controlled nutritional experiments designed to quantify the relative contribution of dietary carbon and nitrogen supplied by different dietary items. Stable isotopes ratios were measured in a range of food sources and experimental animals. In a first experiment, juvenile shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei were reared on co-feeding regimes having different proportions of live biomass of the green macroalgae Ulva clathrata and inert feed in order to identify nutritional contributions to tissue growth using dual stable isotope analysis. In another trial, nitrogen stable isotopes were measured to explore the relative dietary nitrogen contributions from fish meal and pea meal (Pisum sativum) to the growth of white shrimp postlarvae fed low protein diets having different proportions of both ingredients. In a third, multidisciplinary experiment, Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) larvae were used as a model to evaluate the effect of different larval feeding regimes on (1) trypsinogen gene expression (ssetryp1), (2) trypsin and chymotrypsin activities and (3) changes in stable isotope composition to estimate the assimilation of dietary carbon from the larval diets

New variants of SARS-CoV-2

The emergence and spread of new variants of SARS-CoV-2 has produced enormous interest due to their possible implication in the improved transmissibility of the virus, their consequences in the individual evolution of the infection, as well as in the possible escape from the immunity generated by the current vaccines. The variants that attract most attention are those of public health concern, including B.1.1.7 (UK), P.1 (Brazilian) and B.1.351 (South African). This list is extended by the variants of interest that emerge and are expanding in certain countries but are found sporadically in others, such as B.1.427 and B.1.429 (Californians) or B.1.617 (Indian). Whole genome sequencing or strategies specifically targeting the spicule gene are used in the microbiology laboratories for characterization and detection. The number of infected individuals, the sanitary situation of each country, epidemiological measures and vaccination strategies influence its dispersion and new variants are expected to emerge. This emergence can only be avoided today by increasing the vaccinated population in all countries and by not relaxing epidemiological containment measures. It is not excluded that in the future it will be necessary to revaccinate against new variants.post-print186 K

Persistence and viability of SARS-CoV-2 in primary infection and reinfections

Since the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic, virus isolation in the infected patient was only possible for a short period of time and it was striking that this occurred constantly and did not provide guidance on the clinical course. This fact led to confusion about the efficacy of some of the drugs initially used, which seemed to have a high efficiency in viral clearance and proved ineffective in modifying the course of the disease. The immune response also did not prove to be definitive in terms of evolution, although most of the patients with very mild disease had a weak or no antibody response, and the opposite was true for the most severe patients. With whatever the antibody response, few cases have been re-infected after a first infection and generally, those that have, have not reproduced a spectrum of disease similar to the first infection. Among those re-infected, a large number have been asymptomatic or with very few symptoms, others have had a moderate picture and very few have had a poor evolution. Despite this dynamic of rapid viral clearance, laboratory tests were still able to generate positive results in the recovery of genomic sequences and this occurred in patients who were already symptom-free, in others who were still ill and in those who were very seriously ill. There was also no good correlate. For this reason and with the perspective of this year and the half of pandemic, we compiled what the literature leaves us in these aspects and anticipating that, as always in biology, there are cases that jump the limits of the general behavior of the dynamics of infection in genera