Feasibility and sustainability of co-firing biomass in coal power plants in Vietnam

The technology of co-firing biomass with coal is well-matured as demonstrated in many power plants in Europe and the US. It is considered a low-cost technology to utilize biomass in power generation as well as to reduce the greenhouse gases emissions and coal consumption in coal power plants. In Vietnam, the factors that draw attention to biomass co-firing include national energy security, climate change and environmental issues. To ensure national electricity security, the capacity of coal power plants in Vietnam will be expanded to 75 GW by 2030, which accounts for 57% of total power generation. This will increase the greenhouse gases emissions and pose a great challenge on coal supply for Vietnam. This research aims to evaluate the feasibility and sustainability of co-firing biomass in coal power plants in Vietnam through a set of indicators, which covers technical, economical, environmental and social aspects. These indicators are calculated for two cases, a newly constructed 1080 MW fluidized bed coal power plant and a 100 MW pulverized coal power plant. In the case study, direct co-firing technology with 5% of biomass is selected for the evaluation of the indicators. Results indicate that co-firing is technically feasible but not yet economically profitable for the plants to employ this technology without supporting mechanisms. However, from the environmental and social aspects, co-firing can offer various benefits including greenhouse gases emission reduction of about 10-11%, extra income for farmers and coal export company and jobs creation. Thus, it is recommended that co-firing is still an option to be considered as a way to reduce emission and to utilize biomass resource for electricity generation in Vietnam.La technologie de la co-combustion de biomasse avec le charbon est prête à l’utilisation comme il est démontré dans beaucoup de centrales électriques en Europe et aux États-Unis. On considère que c’est une technologie relativement bon marché que d’utiliser la biomasse pour produire de l’électricité et pour réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre ainsi que la consommation de charbon dans les centrales électriques à charbon. Au Vietnam, les facteurs qui attirent l’attention vers la co-combustion de biomasse incluent l'indépendance énergétique et la souveraineté nationale, les questions de changement climatique et d’environnement. Pour assurer la capacité des centrales électriques au charbon, le Plan prévoit de la développer jusqu’à 75 GW en 2030, ce qui implique 57% de la production électrique totale. Cela augmentera les émissions de gaz à effet de serre et posera la question de ressources en charbon pour le Vietnam. Notre recherche veut évaluer la possibilité et la durabilité de la co-combustion de biomasse dans les centrales électriques au charbon au Vietnam. Pour cela, on envisage une série d’indicateurs qui couvre les aspects technique, économique, environnemental et social. Ces indicateurs sont calculés pour deux cas, une centrale récemment construite, à charbon fluidisé de 1080 MW, et une centrale à charbon pulvérisé de 100 MW. Dans ces études de cas, la technologie de co-combustion directe avec 5% de biomasse est sélectionnée pour l’évaluation des indicateurs. Les résultats montrent que la co-combustion est techniquement réalisable mais pas encore profitable économiquement pour les deux centrales si on emploie cette technologie sans mécanismes pour la soutenir. Cependant, du point de vue environnemental et social, la co-combustion peut offrir des bienfaits comme la réduction de gaz à effet de serre d’environ 10-11%, un revenu supplémentaire pour les fermiers et la compagnie d’exportation du charbon ainsi que des créations d’emplois. Ainsi, on recommande que la co-combustion soit une option à considérer, comme un moyen de réduire l’émission de gaz à effet de serre et un moyen d’utiliser les ressources de biomasse pour produire de l’électricité au Vietnam. On peut ainsi également réduire réduire la pollution de l’air causée par l’incinération des déchets agricoles en plein champ. C’est une option qui mérite d’être étudiée davantage.Công nghệ đồng đốt sinh khối với than đã được ứng dụng tại nhiều nhà máy nhiệt điện than ở ChâuÂu và Hoa Kz. Đây là công nghệ tận dụng sinh khối để phát điện có chi phí đầu tư tương đối thấpcũng như có tiềm năng giảm phát thải khí nhà kính tại các nhà máy nhiệt điện than. Tại Việt Nam, cácyếu tố thu hút sự quan tâm đến đồng đốt sinh khối với than bao gồm an ninh năng lượng quốc gia,biến đổi khí hậu và các vấn đề môi trường. Để đảm bảo an ninh năng lượng, Việt Nam sẽ tăng tổngcông suất lắp máy của các nhà máy nhiệt điện than lên 75 GW vào năm 2030, khi đó sản lượng điệntừ nhiệt điện than sẽ chiếm 57% tổng sản lượng điện. Việc này sẽ dẫn đến sự gia tăng phát thải khínhà kính và đặt ra thách thức trong việc cung ứng than cho các nhà máy nhiệt điện than ở Việt Nam.Mục đích của báo cáo này là nhằm đánh giá tính khả thi và tính bền vững của đồng đốt sinh khối vớithan tại các nhà máy nhiệt điện than ở Việt Nam thông qua một bộ các chỉ số bao gồm các khía cạnhvề kỹ thuật, kinh tế, môi trường và xã hội. Những chỉ số này sau đó được tính toán cho hai trườnghợp: một nhà máy nhiệt điện mới đi vào vận hành, công suất 1080 MW sử dụng công nghệ tầng sôivà một nhà máy điện điện đã vận hành nhiều năm, công suất 100 MW sử dụng công nghệ thanphun. Trong tính toán này, công nghệ đồng đốt trực tiếp sinh khối với than ở tỉ lệ 5% được giả thiếtáp dụng đối với cả hai trường hợp để đánh giá các chỉ số. Kết quả cho thấy công nghệ đồng đốt cókhả năng áp dụng được về mặt kỹ thuật, tuy nhiên lại chưa cho thấy tính khả thi về mặt kinh tế nếunhư không có các cơ chế hỗ trợ. Mặt khác, về môi trường và xã hội, công nghệ đồng đốt cho thấy lợiích trên nhiều khía cạnh, bao gồm giảm phát thải khí nhà kính từ 10-11%, tăng thêm thu nhập chonông dân cũng như tạo công ăn việc làm. Do đó, đồng đốt sinh khối với than vẫn nên được xem xétnhư một cách tiếp cận trong việc giảm phát thải khí nhà kính cũng như tận dụng nguồn năng lượngsinh khối để sản xuất điện tại Việt Nam

Socio-economic impacts of co-firing in Vietnam: The case of Ninh Binh Coal Power Plant

International audienceCo-firing biomass with coal is a relatively low-cost technology to utilize biomass for electricity production compared to dedicated biomass power plant. Co-firing could help to reduce the negative impact of coal power plants to economy, environment and society. Vietnam has potential to develop co-firing base on the abundant of biomass resources and because Vietnam will continue to build more coal-fired power plant in the next 2 decades as stated in the latest National Power Development Plan.Among the co-firing technologies, direct co-firing is the most suitable for Vietnam context. Despite of low biomass ratio, direct co-firing offers low investment cost and could utilize most of the biomass feedstock. Vietnam has huge biomass potential, especially the agriculture and forestry residues. These biomasses should be considered first as feedstock for co-firing. Biomass pellets is also a good choice in term of technical features and local supply. However, the price of pellets is not yet competitive with coal or agricultural residues.Economic benefit of co-firing would be higher in the plants that has following features: assess to stable biomass supply, biomass price competitive with coal, incentives and support in term of market for renewable energy utilization and waste reduction. Vietnam should start experimenting co-firing in the coal power plants that located in the area where biomass resource is available, easy to collect and deliver to the plant, using imported coal such as Vinh Tan 2, Duyen Hai 1, Long Phuoc 1…; or the plants that are soon or already depreciated such as Ninh Binh, Uong Bi or Pha Lai to utilize the existing infrastructures.The case study of co-firing 5% rice straw with coal in Ninh Binh Coal Power Plant shows that co-firing could bring benefit to the plant owner in the condition that lack supporting mechanism for co-firing as well as with the absent of carbon credit. Farmers and workers that work in biomass supply chain also benefit from co-firing, especially farmers. In addition, co-firing provide significant positive externalities, in which the most notable is health benefit from reducing air-borne pollutants. Greenhouse gas emissions reduction adds a small part to the overall benefit of co-firing

Phân tích chi phí-lợi ích của đồng đốt sinh khối với than: Trường hợp nhà máy nhiệt điện Ninh Bình

National audienceĐồng đốt sinh khối với than là công nghệ tận dụng sinh khối để phát điện với mức chi phí thấp hơn rấtnhiều so với việc xây dựng nhà máy điện sinh khối. Đồng đốt giúp giảm bớt tác động của nhiệt điện thanđến kinh tế, môi trường và xã hội. Việt Nam có tiềm năng phát triển công nghệ này do có tiềm năng lớn vềsinh khối cũng như do Việt Nam sẽ tiếp tục phát triển các nhà máy nhiệt điện than trong vòng 2 thập kỷ tớitheo như Quy hoạch điện mới nhất.Trong số các công nghệ đồng đốt, đồng đốt trực tiếp là công nghệ phù hợp nhất đối với điều kiện Việt Namhiện nay. Mặc dù tỉ lệ đồng đốt thấp nhưng chi phí chuyển đối thấp nhất và có thể tận dụng hầu hết cácloại sinh khối. Việt Nam có nguồn sinh khối dồi dào, đặc biệt là nguồn phụ phẩm, phế phẩm nông nghiệp.Đây là các nguồn sinh khối nên được cân nhắc sử dụng trước tiên cho đồng đốt. Viên nén sinh khối cũnglà một lựa chọn tốt cho đồng đốt xét về các đặc tính kỹ thuật cũng như nguồn cung trong nước. Tuy nhiêngiá cả của viên nén chưa thực sự cạnh tranh được với than cũng như với nguồn phụ phẩm phế phẩm nôngnghiệp.Hiệu quả về mặt kinh tế của đồng đốt sinh khối với than sẽ cao hơn tại các nhà máy có các điều kiện nhưsau: sử dụng lò đốt than, tiếp cận được với nguồn cung sinh khối ổn định và có mức giá cạnh tranh, có giáthan cao, có các điều kiện ưu tiên về thị trường cũng như cơ chế đối với sử dụng năng lượng tái tạo vàgiảm rác thải. Việt Nam nên bắt đầu thí điểm với các nhà máy nhiệt điện than nằm tại các vùng có trữlượng sinh khối cao, thuận lợi cho việc thu gom và vận chuyển sinh khối, sử dụng than nhập khẩu có nguồncung than không ổn định và giá than cao như Vĩnh Tân 2, Duyên Hải 1, Long Phước 1...; hoặc các nhàmáy sắp hết thời gian khấu hao như Ninh Bình, Uông Bí hay Phả Lại 1 để tận dụng cơ sở hạ tầng sẵn có.Phân tích trường hợp đồng đốt 5% rơm với than tại nhà máy nhiệt điện Ninh Bình cho thấy đồng đốt đãmang lại hiệu quả kinh tế cho nhà máy trong điều kiện không có cơ chế chính sách hỗ trợ cho đồng đốtcũng như chưa có thị trường cacbon và doanh thu từ bán tro xỉ than. Mặt khác, lợi ích mà đồng đốt đemlại cho xã hội cũng như môi trường là rất đáng kể, đặc biệt là đối với người nông dân và sức khỏe cộngđồng. Các lợi ích này, nếu có cơ chế chia sẽ hợp lý sẽ có thể hỗ trợ cho nhà máy áp dụng đồng đốt đạthiệu quả cao hơn về mặt kinh tế

Feasibility and sustainability of co-firing biomass in coal power plants in Vietnam

International audienceThe technology of co-firing biomass with coal is well-matured as demonstrated in many power plants in Europe and the US. It is considered as a relatively low-cost technology to utilize biomass in power generation as well as to reduce the greenhouse gases emissions and coal consumption in coal power plants. However, biomass co-firing is still a new concept in the context of Vietnam energy sector. By 2030, the capacity of coal power plants in Vietnam will be expanded to 75 GW, which accounts for 57% of total power generation. This will increase the greenhouse gases emissions and pose a great challenge on coal supply for Vietnam. This research aims to evaluate the feasibility and sustainability of co-firing biomass in coal power plants in Vietnam. The assessment is conducted using a set of indicators, which is divided into four categories: technical, economical, environmental and social aspects. The feasibility and sustainability assessment is then applied to a case study, a newly constructed 1000 MW fluidized bed coal power plant in Quang Ninh Province. In the case study, direct co-firing technology with 5% of biomass co-fired percentage is selected for the evaluation of the indicators

Acceptance and user experiences of a wearable device for the management of hospitalized patients in COVID-19–designated wards in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: action learning project

Background: Wearable devices have been used extensively both inside and outside of the hospital setting. During the COVID-19 pandemic, in some contexts, there was an increased need to remotely monitor pulse and saturated oxygen for patients due to the lack of staff and bedside monitors. Objective: A prototype of a remote monitoring system using wearable pulse oximeter devices was implemented at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from August to December 2021. The aim of this work was to support the ongoing implementation of the remote monitoring system. Methods: We used an action learning approach with rapid pragmatic methods, including informal discussions and observations as well as a feedback survey form designed based on the technology acceptance model to assess the use and acceptability of the system. Based on these results, we facilitated a meeting using user-centered design principles to explore user needs and ideas about its development in more detail. Results: In total, 21 users filled in the feedback form. The mean technology acceptance model scores ranged from 3.5 (for perceived ease of use) to 4.4 (for attitude) with behavioral intention (3.8) and perceived usefulness (4.2) scoring in between. Those working as nurses scored higher on perceived usefulness, attitude, and behavioral intention than did physicians. Based on informal discussions, we realized there was a mismatch between how we (ie, the research team) and the ward teams perceived the use and wider purpose of the technology. Conclusions: Designing and implementing the devices to be more nurse-centric from their introduction could have helped to increase their efficiency and use during the complex pandemic period

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

Effect of Supplementation with Zinc and Other Micronutrients on Malaria in Tanzanian Children: A Randomised Trial

Hans Verhoef and colleagues report findings from a randomized trial conducted among Tanzanian children at high risk for malaria. Children in the trial received either daily oral supplementation with either zinc alone, multi-nutrients without zinc, multi-nutrients with zinc, or placebo. The investigators did not find evidence from this study that zinc or multi-nutrients protected against malaria episodes

Mapping inequalities in exclusive breastfeeding in low- and middle-income countries, 2000–2018

Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF)-giving infants only breast-milk for the first 6 months of life-is a component of optimal breastfeeding practices effective in preventing child morbidity and mortality. EBF practices are known to vary by population and comparable subnational estimates of prevalence and progress across low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are required for planning policy and interventions. Here we present a geospatial analysis of EBF prevalence estimates from 2000 to 2018 across 94 LMICs mapped to policy-relevant administrative units (for example, districts), quantify subnational inequalities and their changes over time, and estimate probabilities of meeting the World Health Organization's Global Nutrition Target (WHO GNT) of ≥70% EBF prevalence by 2030. While six LMICs are projected to meet the WHO GNT of ≥70% EBF prevalence at a national scale, only three are predicted to meet the target in all their district-level units by 2030.This work was primarily supported by grant no. OPP1132415 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Co-authors used by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (E.G.P. and R.R.3) provided feedback on initial maps and drafts of this manuscript. L.G.A. has received support from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior, Brasil (CAPES), Código de Financiamento 001 and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) (grant nos. 404710/2018-2 and 310797/2019-5). O.O.Adetokunboh acknowledges the National Research Foundation, Department of Science and Innovation and South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis. M.Ausloos, A.Pana and C.H. are partially supported by a grant from the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNDS-UEFISCDI, project no. PN-III-P4-ID-PCCF-2016-0084. P.C.B. would like to acknowledge the support of F. Alam and A. Hussain. T.W.B. was supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation through the Alexander von Humboldt Professor award, funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. K.Deribe is supported by the Wellcome Trust (grant no. 201900/Z/16/Z) as part of his international intermediate fellowship. C.H. and A.Pana are partially supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation, CNDS-UEFISCDI, project no. PN-III-P2-2.1-SOL-2020-2-0351. B.Hwang is partially supported by China Medical University (CMU109-MF-63), Taichung, Taiwan. M.Khan acknowledges Jatiya Kabi Kazi Nazrul Islam University for their support. A.M.K. acknowledges the other collaborators and the corresponding author. Y.K. was supported by the Research Management Centre, Xiamen University Malaysia (grant no. XMUMRF/2020-C6/ITM/0004). K.Krishan is supported by a DST PURSE grant and UGC Centre of Advanced Study (CAS II) awarded to the Department of Anthropology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India. M.Kumar would like to acknowledge FIC/NIH K43 TW010716-03. I.L. is a member of the Sistema Nacional de Investigación (SNI), which is supported by the Secretaría Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (SENACYT), Panamá. M.L. was supported by China Medical University, Taiwan (CMU109-N-22 and CMU109-MF-118). W.M. is currently a programme analyst in Population and Development at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Country Office in Peru, which does not necessarily endorses this study. D.E.N. acknowledges Cochrane South Africa, South African Medical Research Council. G.C.P. is supported by an NHMRC research fellowship. P.Rathi acknowledges support from Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India. Ramu Rawat acknowledges the support of the GBD Secretariat for supporting the reviewing and collaboration of this paper. B.R. acknowledges support from Manipal College of Health Professions, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal. A.Ribeiro was supported by National Funds through FCT, under the programme of ‘Stimulus of Scientific Employment—Individual Support’ within the contract no. info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/CEEC IND 2018/CEECIND/02386/2018/CP1538/CT0001/PT. S.Sajadi acknowledges colleagues at Global Burden of Diseases and Local Burden of Disease. A.M.S. acknowledges the support from the Egyptian Fulbright Mission Program. F.S. was supported by the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (grant no. KQTD20190929172835662). A.Sheikh is supported by Health Data Research UK. B.K.S. acknowledges Kasturba Medical College, Mangalore, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal for all the academic support. B.U. acknowledges support from Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal. C.S.W. is supported by the South African Medical Research Council. Y.Z. was supported by Science and Technology Research Project of Hubei Provincial Department of Education (grant no. Q20201104) and Outstanding Young and Middle-aged Technology Innovation Team Project of Hubei Provincial Department of Education (grant no. T2020003). The funders of the study had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. The corresponding author had full access to all the data in the study and had final responsibility for the decision to submit for publication. All maps presented in this study are generated by the authors and no permissions are required to publish them

Measurement of VH, H → b b ¯ production as a function of the vector-boson transverse momentum in 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

Cross-sections of associated production of a Higgs boson decaying into bottom-quark pairs and an electroweak gauge boson, W or Z, decaying into leptons are measured as a function of the gauge boson transverse momentum. The measurements are performed in kinematic fiducial volumes defined in the `simplified template cross-section' framework. The results are obtained using 79.8 fb-1 of proton-proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. All measurements are found to be in agreement with the Standard Model predictions, and limits are set on the parameters of an effective Lagrangian sensitive to modifications of the Higgs boson couplings to the electroweak gauge bosons

Measurement of the t¯tZ and t¯tW cross sections in proton-proton collisions at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A measurement of the associated production of a top-quark pair (t¯t) with a vector boson (W, Z) in proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV is presented, using 36.1  fb−1 of integrated luminosity collected by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in channels with two same- or opposite-sign leptons (electrons or muons), three leptons or four leptons, and each channel is further divided into multiple regions to maximize the sensitivity of the measurement. The t¯tZ and t¯tW production cross sections are simultaneously measured using a combined fit to all regions. The best-fit values of the production cross sections are σt¯tZ=0.95±0.08stat±0.10syst pb and σt¯tW=0.87±0.13stat±0.14syst pb in agreement with the Standard Model predictions. The measurement of the t¯tZ cross section is used to set constraints on effective field theory operators which modify the t¯tZ vertex