A Review on Expert System Applications in Power Plants

The control and monitoring of power generation plants is being complicated day by day, with the increase size and capacity of equipments involved in power generation process. This calls for the presence of experienced and well trained operators for decision making and management of various plant related activities. Scarcity of well trained and experienced plant operators is one of the major problems faced by modern power industry. Application of artificial intelligence techniques, especially expert systems whose main characteristics is to simulate expert plant operator’s actions is one of the actively researched areas in the field of plant automation. This paper presents an overview of various expert system applications in power generation plants. It points out technological advancement of expert system technology and its integration with various types of modern techniques such as fuzzy, neural network, machine vision and data acquisition systems. Expert system can significantly reduce the work load on plant operators and experts, and act as an expert for plant fault diagnosis and maintenance. Various other applications include data processing, alarm reduction, schedule optimisation, operator training and evaluation. The review point out that integration of modern techniques such as neural network, fuzzy, machine vision, data base, simulators etc. with conventional rule based methodologies have added greater dimensions to problem solving capabilities of an expert system.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v4i1.502

Degradation of metaldehyde in water by nanoparticle catalysts and powdered activated carbon

Metaldehyde, an organic pesticide widely used in the UK, has been detected in drinking water in the UK with a low concentration (<1 μg L−1) which is still above the European and UK standard requirements. This paper investigates the efficiency of four materials: powdered activated carbon (PAC) and carbon-doped titanium dioxide nanocatalyst with different concentrations of carbon (C-1.5, C-40, and C-80) for metaldehyde removal from aqueous solutions by adsorption and oxidation via photocatalysis. PAC was found to be the most effective material which showed almost over 90% removal. Adsorption data were well fitted to the Langmuir isotherm model, giving a qm (maximum/saturation adsorption capacity) value of 32.258 mg g−1 and a KL (Langmuir constant) value of 2.013 L mg−1. In terms of kinetic study, adsorption of metaldehyde by PAC fitted well with a pseudo-second-order equation, giving the adsorption rate constant k2 value of 0.023 g mg−1 min−1, implying rapid adsorption. The nanocatalysts were much less effective in oxidising metaldehyde than PAC with the same metaldehyde concentration and 0.2 g L−1 loading concentration of materials under UV light; the maximum removal achieved by carbon-doped titanium dioxide (C-1.5) nanocatalyst was around 15% for a 7.5 ppm metaldehyde solution

Sorption of Metaldehyde using granular activated carbon

In this work the ability of granular activated carbon (GAC) to sorb metaldehyde was evaluated. The kinetic data could be described by an intra-particle diffusion model which indicated that the porosity of the sorbent strongly influenced the rate of sorption. The analysis of the equilibrium sorption data revealed that ionic strength and temperature did not play any significant role in the metaldehyde uptake. The sorption isotherms were successfully predicted by the Freundlich model. The GAC used in this paper exhibited a higher affinity and sorption capacity for metaldehyde with respect to other GACs studied in previous works, probably as a result of its higher specific surface area

Degradation of Metaldehyde in Aqueous Solution by Nano-Sized Photocatalysts and Granular Activated Carbon

Metaldehyde has been detected in drinking water system in relatively high concentration exceeding European water quality standard. In order to address this problem, the aim of this project was to treat metaldehyde aqueous solution by advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and granular activated carbon (GAC) column. Ten novel materials were tested for degradation rates of metaldehyde under ultraviolet light irradiation (UVC). For treatment of 1 mg/L metaldehyde solution by AOPs, the highest degradation rate is 16.59% under UVC light with the aid of nitrogen doped titanium dioxide coated graphene (NTiO2/Gr). Furthermore, 0.5 mg/L is the optimal concentration for degradation of metaldehyde with N–TiO2/Gr under UVC light. Apart from that, the lifetime of GAC column could be elongated on condition that metaldehyde has been treated by AOPs previously. Hence, combination of AOPs and GAC column is promising in treating water containing metaldehyde

Calcium/Calmodulin Dependent Protein Kinase II Bound to NMDA Receptor 2B Subunit Exhibits Increased ATP Affinity and Attenuated Dephosphorylation

Calcium/calmodulin dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is implicated to play a key role in learning and memory. NR2B subunit of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) is a high affinity binding partner of CaMKII at the postsynaptic membrane. NR2B binds to the T-site of CaMKII and modulates its catalysis. By direct measurement using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), we show that NR2B binding causes about 11 fold increase in the affinity of CaMKII for ATPγS, an analogue of ATP. ITC data is also consistent with an ordered binding mechanism for CaMKII with ATP binding the catalytic site first followed by peptide substrate. We also show that dephosphorylation of phospho-Thr286-α-CaMKII is attenuated when NR2B is bound to CaMKII. This favors the persistence of Thr286 autophosphorylated state of CaMKII in a CaMKII/phosphatase conjugate system in vitro. Overall our data indicate that the NR2B- bound state of CaMKII attains unique biochemical properties which could help in the efficient functioning of the proposed molecular switch supporting synaptic memory

Reactions in supercritical carbon dioxide

1298-1305Use of conventional organic solvents often leads to the formation of hazardous waste, the disposal of which is a matter of environmental concern. Carbon dioxide is considered to be a green reaction medium and a good replacement for conventional organic solvents as it is benign and leads to elimination/reduction of hazardous wastes. Use of CO2 at near/above critical conditions has several additional advantages as the reactions can be pressure-tuned to eliminate transport resistance, increase solvent power and heat capacity. Hence, there has been considerable interest in the use of supercritical carbon dioxide as either a replacement of conventional organic solvent or as a co-solvent in reactions. Herein, recent developmenst in this area during the last decade is reviewed, specifically in gas-liquid (organic hydrogenation, hydroformylation and oxidation) and liquid-liquid (carbon-carbon coupling, alkylation, acetylation, esterification) reactions

Sorption isotherms of methane, ethane, ethylene, and carbon dioxide on ALPO-5 and SAPO-5

The sorption of methane, ethane, ethylene, and carbon dioxide in ALPO-5 and SAPO-5 (temperature 305-353 K, and pressure 0-200 kPa) and the thermodynamics of sorption have been investigated under similar conditions using a gravimetric sorption apparatus. The Dubinin-Polanyi equation is found to fit the sorption of all the sorbates in both the sorbents except for carbon dioxide in ALPO-5. The Freundlich model fits the equilibrium data on the sorption of carbon dioxide in ALPO-5. The two sorbents differ widely in the isosteric heat of sorption and also in its variation with surface coverage of these sorbates. Entropy changes on the sorption have also been analyzed. The sorption of these gases in both the sorbents is found to be supermobile, the mobility being much higher in ALPO-5 than in SAPO-5

Adsorption of methane, ethane, ethylene, and carbon dioxide on X, Y, L, and M zeolites using a gas chromatography pulse technique

Sorption of methane, ethane, ethylene and carbon dioxide in NaX, NaY, HY, CeNaY, KL, HKL, NaM, and HM zeolites at 303-473 K has been investigated using a gas chromatography pulse technique. The zeolites have been compared for the heat of sorption of the sorbates at near-zero sorbate loading and also for the specific retention volume (or thermodynamic sorption equilibrium constant) of ethane, ethylene, and carbon dioxide relative to that of methane

Adsorption of methane, ethane, ethylene, and carbon dioxide on silicalite-I

The adsorption of methane, ethane, ethylene, and carbon dioxide on silicalite-I and the thermodynamics of adsorption have been investigated under similar conditions using a gravimetric adsorption apparatus. The order for the adsorption of the different adsorbates on silicalite-I is CH<SUB>4</SUB> &lt; CO<SUB>2</SUB> &lt; C<SUB>2</SUB>H<SUB>4</SUB> &#8804; C<SUB>2</SUB>H<SUB>6</SUB>. The Dubinin-Polanyi equation is found to fit the isotherm data for the adsorption of methane (305 K) and ethane (305-413 K); the Freundlich equation fits the adsorption data for methane (353 K), ethane (453 K), and carbon dioxide (353 K); and the adsorption of ethylene (305, 353 K) and carbon dioxide (305 K) follows the Langmuir isotherm model. The isosteric heat of adsorption for the adsorption of these gases on silicalite-I lies between 18 and 32 kJ . mol<SUP>-1</SUP>, with ethane having the highest value. The heat of sorption is affected mildly by the surface coverage for all of the gases but methane. The heat of adsorption of methane decreases with an increase in its loading. Analysis of the entropy of adsorption reveals that ethane (at an adsorbate loading of &lt;0.8 mmol . g<SUP>-1</SUP>), methane, ethylene, and carbon dioxide (at all adsorbate loadings studied) are supermobile on the silicalite surface. The mobility of adsorbed methane increases, and that of the other adsorbates decreases with increasing the adsorbate loading

Alkylation of naphthalene with t-butanol over zeolite Y: Influence of reaction environment and reaction kinetics

351-356The t-butylation of naphthalene with t-butanol over different Y-zeolites and at different environments is reported. The zeolites investigated are H-Y, RE-Y and three US-Y samples with different Si/Al ratios. Though, as expected, increasing the reaction temperature (160-180 ºC) increases naphthalene conversion, increasing the TBA/naphthalene mole ratio beyond 2&nbsp;results in a decrease in conversion, presumably due to poisoning by the larger amount of water produced during dehydration. Both activity and yield of dialkylnaphthalenes increase on RE exchange and dealumination of H-Y. Higher conversions are obtained when the reaction is conducted under neat conditions than in the presence of the solvent cyclohexane or the added gas, N2.</b