Gas hydrate technology: state of the art and future possibilities for Europe

Interest in natural gas hydrates has been steadily increasing over the last few decades, with the understanding that exploitation of this abundant unconventional source may help meet the ever-increasing energy demand and assist in reduction of CO2 emission (by replacing coal). Unfortunately, conventional technologies for oil and gas exploitation are not fully appropriate for the specific exploitation of gas hydrate. Consequently, the technology chain, from exploration through production to monitoring, needs to be further developed and adapted to the specific properties and conditions associated with gas hydrates, in order to allow for a commercially and environmentally sound extraction of gas from gas hydrate deposits. Various academic groups and companies within the European region have been heavily involved in theoretical and applied research of gas hydrate for more than a decade. To demonstrate this, Fig. 1.1 shows a selection of leading European institutes that are actively involved in gas hydrate research. A significant number of these institutes have been strongly involved in recent worldwide exploitation of gas hydrate, which are shown in Fig. 1.2 and summarized in Table 1.1. Despite the state of knowledge, no field trials have been carried out so far in European waters. MIGRATE (COST action ES1405) aims to pool together expertise of a large number of European research groups and industrial players to advance gas-hydrate related activity with the ultimate goal of preparing the setting for a field production test in European waters. This MIGRATE report presents an overview of current technologies related to gas hydrate exploration (Chapter 2), production (Chapter 3) and monitoring (Chapter 4), with an emphasis on European activity. This requires covering various activities within different disciplines, all of which contribute to the technology development needed for future cost-effective gas production. The report points out future research and work areas (Chapter 5) that would bridge existing knowledge gaps, through multinational collaboration and interdisciplinary approaches

Gestaltung von personalisierten Lernfabrikschulungen in Virtual Reality im Kontext schlanker Produktion

Das Konzept der Lernfabriken erfüllt die aktuellen lerntheoretischen Anforderungen in Bezug auf Situation, Prozessorientierung und Authentizität. Jedoch ist es oftmals für Schulungsteilnehmende schwierig, die erlernten Fähigkeiten in die betriebliche Anwendungssituation zu übertragen. Mit Virtual Reality (VR) haben die Trainingsteilnehmenden die Möglichkeit, mit ergänzenden transferorientierten Handlungsaufgaben im virtuellen Raum zu lernen. In diesem Kontext wurde für die zu entwickelnde Softwarelösung ein Anwendungstest mit Fokus auf die Usability durchgeführt. Dabei wurden verschiedene Gestaltungselemente getestet, um auf Basis der Rückmeldungen die VR-Lernumgebung anzupassen und den Lernenden eine bestmögliche Erfahrung in VR zu ermöglichen

Resources of a new carbon economy

In order to achieve the two-degree target agreed by the Paris Climate Change Conference, man-made carbon input into the atmosphere has to be limited to a quantity not greater than the amount of carbon that can be absorbed by sinks. In addition to the energy system, this also affects important industries such as the steel, cement and chemical industry, whose production structures are essentially based on the processing of fossil carbon compounds. If a net zero emission target really is to be achieved, a system change that includes the fundamentally different management of carbon-containing raw materials is also essential for these industries. This requires a considerable amount of renewable energy

Pluronic F127-Folate Coated Super Paramagenic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles as Contrast Agent for Cancer Diagnosis in Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Contrast agents have been widely used in medicine to enhance contrast in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Among them, super paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) have been reported to have low risk in clinical use. In our study, F127-Folate coated SPION was fabricated in order to efficiently target tumors and provide imaging contrast in MRI. SPION alone have an average core size of 15 nm. After stabilizing with Pluronic F127, the nanoparticles reached a hydrodynamic size of 180 nm and dispersed well in various kinds of media. The F127-Folate coated SPION were shown to specifically target folate receptor expressing cancer cells by flow cytometry analysis, confocal laser scanning microscope, as well as in vitro MRI. Furthermore, in vivo MRI images have shown the enhanced negative contrast from the F127-Folate coated SPION in tumor-bearing mice. In conclusion, our F127-Folate coated SPION have shown great potential as a contrast agent in MRI, as well as in the combination with drug delivery for cancer therapy

Monitoring system for multiphase hydrogenation in chemical plants

An on-line monitoring system (MoSys) based on dimensionless mass and energy balances with adaptive functions was developed to support the operational personnel during the optimal and environmentally compatible process control of the complex multi phase hydrogenation in stirred tank reactors. For industrial testing. MoSys was integrated in a batch-information-management system (BIMS) which was also developed and implemented in the process control system (PSC) of a multipurpose reactor installation. As a result, the outputs of MoSys, such as the progress of hydrogenation, the predictive end of reaction and concentration profiles, can simultaneously be visualised with imponant process signals on terminals of PCS. The efficiency of BIMS/MoSys could be proven during two industrial hydrogenation campaigns