Dynamic Co-Capabilities in Innovation Management: the Case of Power-To-Gas Technology Development and Implementation

Power-to-gas technology has a great potential to facilitate the integration of renewables into the energy grid, but there are operative and system-level challenges in the development and implementation of this innovative technology. The authors aimed to explore with qualitative methodology the innovation management challenges which emerge during cooperatively performed technology development and implementation tasks by power-to-gas developer startups and established / multinational energy companies. The main findings of our research highlight the importance of complementary capabilities between smaller and larger organizations. The exploitation of these synergies can be hampered, however, by the contradictory organizational characteristics. Our research results conclude that technological and cooperation challenges can be solved by dynamic co-capabilities which help to explore and exploit complementarities between startups and established / multinational energy companies resulting in scaled-up technological innovation and significant steps forward towards an increased level of integration of renewable resources into the energy grid, as well a towards the transformation of the energy sector. Keywords: power-to-gas technology, innovation management, dynamic capabilities, technology development, technology implementation, renewables, energy sector transformation

Physiological sharp wave-ripples and interictal events in vitro: What’s the difference?

Sharp wave-ripples and interictal events are physiological and pathological forms of transient high activity in the hippocampus with similar features. Sharp wave-ripples have been shown to be essential in memory consolidation, while epileptiform (interictal) events are thought to be damaging. It is essential to grasp the difference between physiological sharp wave-ripples and pathological interictal events in order to understand the failure of control mechanisms in the latter case. We investigated the dynamics of activity generated intrinsically in the CA3 region of the mouse hippocampus in vitro, using four different types of intervention to induce epiletiform activity. As a result, sharp wave-ripples spontaneously occurring in CA3 disappeared, and following an asynchronous transitory phase, activity reorganized into a new form of pathological synchrony. During epileptiform events, all neurons increased their firing rate compared to sharp wave-ripples. Different cell types showed complementary firing: parvalbumin-positive basket cells and some axo-axonic cells stopped firing due to a depolarization block at the climax of the events in high potassium, 4-aminopyridine and zero magnesium models, but not in the gabazine model. In contrast, pyramidal cells started firing maximally at this stage. To understand the underlying mechanism we measured changes of intrinsic neuronal and transmission parameters in the high potassium model. We found that the cellular excitability increased and excitatory transmission was enhanced, whereas inhibitory transmission was compromised. We observed a strong short-term depression in parvalbumin-positive basket cell to pyramidal cell transmission. Thus, the collapse of pyramidal cell perisomatic inhibition appears to be a crucial factor in the emergence of epileptiform events

Size distribution and spectral responses of atmospheric aerosol measured by single mobility particle sizer (SMPS) and multi wavelength photoacoustic spectrometer (4λ-PAS)

This campaign was made under wintry urban meteorological conditions from late winter until early spring of 2015, in Budapest, the capital of Hungary. Optical absorption coefficient (OAC) is generally measured by two different methodologies. One was the most commonly used Aethalometer [1]. The other was the recently developed multi wavelength photoacoustic instrument (4-λ-PAS) [2]. The size distribution and number concentration of ambient aerosol was measured by a single mobility particle sizer (SMPS). The measurement period could be classified normal days and nucleation days. The correction factor of filter based transmission measurement was experimentally determined using photoacoustic instrument as reference. Both the correction factor and the spectral responses were found to be characteristic for normal and nucleation days

Üvegleletek egy 12–13. századi település területéről (Orosháza-Bónum, Faluhely)

Abstract: Archaeometric investigations have been carried out on two glass fragments found in a 12th–13th century settlement (near Orosháza, Hungary), where supposedly Islamic inhabitants lived. The identical texture and the fairly close chemical compositions of the glassy materials indicate that the two pieces might belong to one vessel or the two vessels were made in the same workshop. The glass chemistry (soda plant ash) fits well both contemporary Islamic and Venetian glasses. The form of one of the vessels (biconical, or bottle with body-tubular ring) is a well-known Venetian type, but it was known in the Islamic world as well. The probably origin of the studied glass is that they were made in the Venetian glassmaking centre from Levantine raw glass, but the Islamic provenience cannot be excluded

Comparative Chiral Separation of Thalidomide Class of Drugs Using Polysaccharide-Type Stationary Phases with Emphasis on Elution Order and Hysteresis in Polar Organic Mode

The enantioseparation of four phthalimide derivatives (thalidomide, pomalidomide, lenalidomide and apremilast) was investigated on five different polysaccharide-type stationary phases (Chiralpak AD, Chiralpak AS, Lux Amylose-2, Chiralcel OD and Chiralcel OJ-H) using neat methanol (MeOH), ethanol (EtOH), 1-propanol (PROP), 2-propanol (IPA) and acetonitrile (ACN) as polar organic mobile phases and also in combination. Along with the separation capacity of the applied systems, our study also focuses on the elution sequences, the effect of mobile phase mixtures and the hysteresis of retention and selectivity. Although on several cases extremely high resolutions (Rs > 10) were observed for certain compounds, among the tested conditions only Chiralcel OJ-H column with MeOH was successful for baseline-separation of all investigated drugs. Chiral selector- and mobile-phase-dependent reversals of elution order were observed. Reversal of elution order and hysteresis of retention and enantioselectivity were further investigated using different eluent mixtures on Chiralpak AD, Chiralcel OD and Lux Amylose-2 column. In an IPA/MeOH mixture, enantiomer elution-order reversal was observed depending on the eluent composition. Furthermore, in eluent mixtures, enantioselectivity depends on the direction from which the composition of the eluent is approached, regardless of the eluent pair used on amylose-based columns. Using a mixture of polar alcohols not only the selectivities but the enantiomer elution order can also be fine-tuned on Chiralpak AD column, which opens up the possibility of a new type of chiral screening strateg

Biomethane production monitoring and data analysis based on the practical operation experiences of an innovative power-to-gas benchscale prototype

Power-to-gas (P2G) is referred to technologies that convert carbon dioxide into methane. Both bio- and chemical catalysts may be used for conversion purposes. One of the most disruptive biotechnologies was developed by the University of Chicago (IL) (publication number: EP2661511B1), using a robust, highly selective, patented strain of Archaea. Electrochaea GmbH has developed an innovative bench-scale P2G prototype unit, which uses this highly efficient Archaea strain, specialized components and specifically developed control strategies. The structure and the components of the prototype are equivalent with the functional parts of the currently largest commercial scale biomethanation BioCat plant located in Avedøre, Denmark (www.biocat-project.com). Power-to-Gas Hungary Kft. has committed to further develop this innovative technology. The first steps of this development have been taken by operating the benchscale unit and analyzing the data of the operating periods. The prototype is operated based on weekly campaigns. During continuous operation, H2O is generated as a by-product of methane. Therefore, approximately 200 ml of biocatalyst is discharged each day and concentrated media containing macro and micronutrients are injected into the reactor to maintain media composition. The laboratory staff records all gas composition data each morning. The gas composition is measured every 12 minutes by an Awite AwiFlex Cool+ gas analyzer. Within this article, we analyze the collected datasets containing more than 12 000 records and present the first practical experiences of the operations of the innovative power-to-gas bench-scale prototype. The analysis of the collected gas composition data of the product gas already provides important data for modelling the commercial-scaled processes. The average value of VVD was about 40 l/l/d in the period under review. Further increase of the methane content can be achieved by introduction of higher mixing energy and by increasing pressure levels in the bioreactor (as demonstrated in the BioCat plant – data not shown here) – both of which are strategies envisioned for the commercial plant. In routine activities (turn on, shut down, continuous operation) we could verify the high robustness of the biocatalyst and the base connection between the registered datasets and performed test results