Estonia’s Competition Policy: A Critical Evaluation towards EU accession.

This paper sets out to answer two questions: to what extend is competition policy in Estonia - one of the applicant countries for accession to the European Union - a duplication of EU policy, and has Estonia established a true competition discipline with high public awareness of the rules and effective public and private enforcement? It is shown that although Estonian antitrust policy includes some additional features to the core EU rules - both with possible positive and negative welfare consequences - one can basically really speak of a copy of EU policy both with respect to legislation and enforcement provisions. Since the EU has a long and successful tradition of fighting competition-distorting conduct, this should weigh positively in the country''s application for accession. However, a real competition discipline is still lacking in Estonia. Higher public awareness, as well as a more stringent enforcement and especially sanctioning policy are necessary.Economics ;

Investigation of the Degradation of Chelate Complexes in Liquid Redox Desulfurization Processes

Metal complexes such as Fe‐EDTA, which are used as pseudo‐catalysts or oxygen carriers in wet oxidative desulfurization processes, are subject to a degradation mechanism that significantly influences the economics of such processes. Therefore, this study presents a methodology for determining the degree of degradation during the reactive hydrogen sulfide absorption in a Fe‐EDTA solution within a continuously operating semi‐batch reactor system. For this purpose, the reactive conversion of H2S in the liquid phase was used as a reference, and a clear dependence of the degradation on the pH could be shown. In addition, indicators are introduced that evaluate the observed pH dependency of the degradation and distinguish pH‐induced effects such as the pH‐dependent absorption performance of H2S.TU Berlin, Open-Access-Mittel - 202

Model discrimination and parameter identification using the wet oxidation of thiosulfate as an example

In der Kokereitechnik fallen belastete Abwässer an, die effizient behandelt werden müssen, um die Umwelt nicht zu belasten und den gesetzlichen Verordnungen gerecht zu werden. Hierzu ist ein genaues Prozessverständnis notwendig. Aufgrund der Vielzahl an möglichen Modifikationen nehmen Schwefelverbindungen eine Sonderstellung ein, weswegen die Kenntnis der verschiedenen Reaktionspfade und ‐kinetiken für die Auslegung der Apparate essenziell ist. Mittels Parameterschätzung und Modeldiskriminierung werden in diesem Beitrag Kinetiken anhand von Experimentaldaten ermittelt und Reaktionsschemata der Nassoxidation von Thiosulfat bewertet, um den Konzentrationsverlauf aller Spezies hinreichend genau beschreiben zu können.Coke technology involves polluted wastewater, which must be treated efficiently in order not to pollute the environment and to comply with legal regulations. This requires a thorough understanding of the process. Due to the large number of possible modifications, sulfur compounds occupy a special position and, thus, knowledge of the reaction pathways and kinetics is essential for the design of apparatuses. By means of parameter estimation and model discrimination, kinetics are determined on the basis of experimental data and reaction schemes of the wet oxidation of thiosulfate are evaluated in order to describe the concentration course of all species with sufficient accuracy.TU Berlin, Open-Access-Mittel - 201

Development of a Mobile Pilot Plant for the Evaluation of Novel Scrubbing Liquids for the Absorption of CO2 From Industrial Gases

Most available scrubbing liquids suffer from either high heating duties for the regeneration or vulnerability towards gas components. In order to increase the efficiency of the absorption process a novel scrubbing liquid has been developed by thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG. For verifying relevance and feasibility of long-term operation of the new fluid assumptions for installation were created – conceptual design and detailed simulation of the process without detailed thermodynamic information

Model Adaptation and Optimization for the Evaluation and Investigation of Novel Amine Blends in a Pilot-plant Scale CO2 Capture Process under Industrial Conditions

Carbon capture processes are highly energy intensive and the main driving force during the process design is the necessity to reduce the energy consumption for the solvent regeneration. The energy efficiency of absorption desorption processes is driven by the plant design and operation conditions, but also to a large extent by the choice of the scrubbing liquid (Wang et al., 2011). Absorbent screening for CO2 capture is timeconsuming and costly. Apart from the energy efficiency, aspects such as loading capacity and robustness towards industrial impurities and disturbances have to be investigated before designing a large-scale plant and optimally operating it. In this contribution, a systematic approach is presented to carry out evaluation tests for a novel solvent in an industrial pilot-plant and at the same time to determine an optimal operation point with maximum energy efficiency. The three-step approach is based on the assumption that for a novel absorbent little to no thermodynamic data is available. Hence, the investigation is solely based on simulation data from similar solvents and experimental data on the novel one. Monoethanolamine (MEA) still is widely used as reference absorbent for removing CO2. Consequently, simulation data and the properties of MEA are taken as a baseline for the general performance and behaviour of amine-based absorbents. As a first step, data from rigorous simulations is used to develop a surrogate model describing the general behaviour of a carbon capture process for MEA. Subsequently, pilot-plant-scale experiments are carried out to investigate the application of MEA in practice. Secondly, the surrogate model is then updated to account for the plant characteristics as given by the experimental data for MEA. Finally, by means of the MEA-based data-driven model, the new solvent is experimentally investigated. By successive approaches the surrogate model’s maximum in energy efficiency is identified and repeatedly updated for the novel solvent’s experimental behaviour. In terms of the energy efficiency and based on this workflow the performance of the novel solvent is compared with MEA

Distortions of Experimental Muon Arrival Time Distributions of Extensive Air Showers by the Observation Conditions

Event-by-event measured arrival time distributions of Extensive Air Shower (EAS) muons are affected and distorted by various interrelated effects which originate from the time resolution of the timing detectors, from fluctuations of the reference time and the number (multiplicity) of detected muons spanning the arrival time distribution of the individual EAS events. The origin of these effects is discussed, and different correction procedures, which involve detailed simulations, are proposed and illustrated. The discussed distortions are relevant for relatively small observation distances (R < 200 m) from the EAS core. Their significance decreases with increasing observation distance and increasing primary energies. Local arrival time distributions which refer to the observed arrival time of the first local muon prove to be less sensitive to the mass of the primary. This feature points to the necessity of arrival time measurements with additional information on the curvature of the EAS disk.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic

Investigation on the simultaneous removal of COS, CS2 and O2 from coke oven gas by hydrogenation on a Pd/Al2O3 catalyst

The present study deals with the processing of coke oven gas mainly composed of H2, CH4, N2 and CO to provide a feedstock for the synthesis of base chemicals. In this respect, the particular focus of this work is the simultaneous reduction of critical trace components like COS, CS2 and O2 by catalytic reaction with H2. The investigations were performed in synthetic coke oven exhaust using a Pd/Al2O3 catalyst. The results of the hydrogenation tests showed complete conversion of COS, CS2 and O2 at 200 °C and above with selective formation of H2S. However, below 200 °C the conversion of O2 was markedly reduced and CH3SH appeared as a by-product. Mechanistic studies were performed by in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy coupled with mass spectrometry. These investigations demonstrated dissociative adsorption of COS on the catalyst at 150 °C resulting in the formation of bridged CO adsorbates and probably elemental sulfur. It is assumed that these species predominate the active Pd surface under reaction conditions. Consequently, the adsorption of O2 and the reaction to H2O is suppressed thus substantiating the decrease in performance at low temperatures. However, increasing the temperature to 200 °C and above leads to desorption of CO and sulfur compounds restoring the efficiency of the catalyst.TU Berlin, Open-Access-Mittel - 202

Mobile Pilot-Plant for the Evaluation of Novel Scrubbing Liquids for the Absorption of CO2 from Industrial Gases

Most available scrubbing liquids suffer from either high heating duties for the regeneration or vulnerability towards gas components. In order to increase the efficiency of the absorption process a novel scrubbing liquid has been developed by thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG. For verifying relevance and feasibility of long-term operation of the new fluid assumptions for installation were created – conceptual design and detailed simulation of the process without detailed thermodynamic information

Mobile Pilot-Plant for the Evaluation of Novel Scrubbing Liquids for the Absorption of CO2 from Industrial Gases

Most available scrubbing liquids suffer from either high heating duties for the regeneration or vulnerability towards gas components. In order to increase the efficiency of the absorption process a novel scrubbing liquid has been developed by thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions AG. For verifying relevance and feasibility of long-term operation of the new fluid assumptions for installation were created – conceptual design and detailed simulation of the process without detailed thermodynamic information

Proteomics of spatially identified tissues in whole organs

Spatial molecular profiling of complex tissues is essential to investigate cellular function in physiological and pathological states. However, methods for molecular analysis of biological specimens imaged in 3D as a whole are lacking. Here, we present DISCO-MS, a technology combining whole-organ imaging, deep learning-based image analysis, and ultra-high sensitivity mass spectrometry. DISCO-MS yielded qualitative and quantitative proteomics data indistinguishable from uncleared samples in both rodent and human tissues. Using DISCO-MS, we investigated microglia activation locally along axonal tracts after brain injury and revealed known and novel biomarkers. Furthermore, we identified initial individual amyloid-beta plaques in the brains of a young familial Alzheimer’s disease mouse model, characterized the core proteome of these aggregates, and highlighted their compositional heterogeneity. Thus, DISCO-MS enables quantitative, unbiased proteome analysis of target tissues following unbiased imaging of entire organs, providing new diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities for complex diseases, including neurodegeneration