Regulating Carbon Dioxide Storage Operations Near Oil and Gas Fields, Australia's Approach

AbstractIn 2008, the Australian Parliament passed legislation to establish a title system of access and property rights for geological storage of carbon dioxide in offshore waters. The new Act provides for petroleum titles and carbon dioxide storage titles to co-exist in the same area. A key concern for pre-existing title holders is the potential for adverse impacts on their resource investments. Where oil and gas, and greenhouse gas projects are proposed in the same area government policy encourages commercial agreements between the parties. In the absence of such agreements the Act allows for a significant risk of a significant adverse impact (SROSAI) test to be applied by the regulator to consider whether an activity in one title area could have a significant risk of a significant adverse impact on an activity carried out under the other title. The test is based on three core parameters: probability, economic impact and economic value of the operations. This paper discusses the objective basis for the SROSAI test, the regulations, the methodologies, the mathematical formulae, technical requirements, project scenarios and mitigation options

Synergistic Antimicrobial Activities of Thai Household Essential Oils in Chitosan Film

Foodborne pathogens mostly contaminate ready-to-eat (RTE) meat products by post-process contamination and cause foodborne disease outbreaks. Preventing post-process contamination and controlling microbial growth during storage by packing the RTE meats with active antimicrobial film from chitosan combined with the synergism of Thai household essential oils was investigated. Here, we analyzed antimicrobial activity and mechanical properties of chitosan films incorporated with essential oil of fingerroot (EOF) and holy basil (EOH) based on their fractional inhibitory concentration and isobolograms. We showed that antimicrobial activities of chitosan film and chitosan films formulated with EOF:EOH displayed a dramatical reduction of Listeria monocytogenes Scott A concentration by 7 Log in 12 h. Chitosan film incorporated with EOF:EOH at ratio 0.04:0.04% v/v/w strongly retarded growth of total viable count of L. monocytogenes on vacuum-packed bologna slices during seven days of storage at 4 and 10 °C. Combined EOF and EOH added to chitosan films did not alter thickness, elongation (%) and colors (L*, a* and b*) of the chitosan film, but it increased water vapor transmission rate and decreased film tensile strength. Results suggested that chitosan film had strong antibacterial properties. Its effectiveness in inhibiting foodborne pathogenic bacteria in ready-to-eat meat products was enhanced by adding a combination of EOF:EOH

Moisture Sorption Isotherms and Prediction Models of Carboxymethyl Chitosan Films from Different Sources with Various Plasticizers

Carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCH) from different chitosan sources (shrimp, crab, and squid) and molecular sizes (polymer and oligomer) were synthesized via carboxymethylation reaction. The CMCH films were prepared by solution casting. All the CMCH films had high water solubility, higher than 85% of the dry matter of the films. The sorption isotherm of the CMCH films was evaluated at several values of relative humidity (0% RH, 23% RH, 34% RH, 43% RH, 65% RH, 77% RH, and 86% RH) at 25 ± 1°C. The equilibrium moisture content values of all the CMCH films were low at lower aw but increased considerably above aw = 0.65. The sigmoidal moisture sorption isotherms of this product can be classified as type II. Understanding of sorption isotherms is an important prerequisite for the prediction of moisture sorption properties of films via moisture sorption empirical models. The experimental data were analyzed and fitted by the nine sorption models. The various constants determined by linear fitting of the sorption equation with r2 values were in the range of 0.7647 to 0.999. The GAB model was found to be the best-fitted model for CMCH films (aw = 0.23–0.86, 25 ± 1°C), and the model presented the optimal root-mean-square percentage error (%RMS) values when compared with other models. In conclusion, it can be stated that the GAB model was found to be better estimated for predicting the CMCH films than other models. Therefore, the constant derived from different sorption models were applied for use in terms of information and for the determination of the stability of CMCH packaging films for specific end uses

A dynamic estimation of casualties from an earthquake based on a time-use survey: applying HAZUS-MH software to Ulsan, Korea

One essential piece of information used to estimate earthquake casualties is the spatiotemporal distribution of the population. HAZUS-MH is a loss-estimation model nested in a geographic information system that has been developed and freely distributed by the US Federal Emergency Management Agency to estimate loss and damage due to natural hazards. Because inventories of behavioral patterns based on empirical data have not been developed and have relied solely on behavioral information about the US population, they may not provide reliable and meaningful casualty estimations in an international setting. To estimate accurate hourly exposure for an earthquake using empirical data, the study uses a daily time-use survey conducted by Statistics of Korea. The survey contains behavioral data from approximately 21,000 respondents, collected over 24 h. By combining structural damage estimates, calculated by HAZUS-MH, with spatiotemporal behavior patterns estimated using a daily time-behavioral survey in Korea, the study shows the estimated casualties related to a given earthquake scenario in the Ulsan area. The simulation results show that the greatest number of estimated casualties occurred when the earthquake struck between 2 a.m., and 4 a.m. The fewest casualties were expected when the earthquake occurred between 12 p.m., and 2 p.m. The proportion of the indoor population in damaged buildings and the spatial distribution of occupancy type was one of the important factors. During the daytime, casualties increased where the nonresidential occupancy was concentrated. At nighttime, a higher number of casualties were estimated in residential occupancy.close