EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS ON HUMIDIFICATION OF COMPRESSED AIR IN A TUBULAR HUMIDIFIER FOR EVAPORATIVE CYCLES

ABSTRACT The evaporative gas turbine (EvGT), also known as the humid air turbine (HAT) has the potential to compete with diesel engines and combined cycles in small and intermediate sizes. Most EvGT concepts include a packed bed tower for humidification; however, an alternative is a tubular humidifier unit. A tubular humidifier test rig was designed and constructed at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. A thorough investigation of the humidifier's performance and characteristics at different pressures was conducted in 1998. The humidifier consists of a single vertical surface-extended tube and shell. The water and the compressed air are brought into countercurrent contact inside the tube, resulting in evaporation of the water film in the compressed air. The heat required for the evaporation comes mainly from the exhaust gas cooling on the shell side. Experimental results show that the tubular humidifier operates satisfactorily. The exhaust gas heat is recovered to significantly low temperatures. The temperature and the humidity ratio of the compressed air are promising for EvGT applications. The flooding velocity and the wetting limit were also examined. In most cases an inner tube diameter of approximately 50 mm and a tube length of 9 m are considered suitable for this type of application

Outsourcing of energy facilities in the pulp and paper industry : Motives for outsourcing partnerships between energy companies and pulp and paper manufacturers

Energy companies are developing and marketing outsourcing of energy facilities in the Swedish pulp and paper industry, i.e. solutions where they take over the responsibility for investments, operation and maintenance. In recent years the activity on the market for outsourcing has been intensified. Based on pilot studies of outsourcing cases, this paper analyses motives behind outsourcing, under what conditions outsourcing can work and factors that have an impact on the success of the outsourcing process. The main motive of the pulp and paper manufacturers to outsource was to gain access to external capital. For the energy companies, the two main motives behind the outsourcing projects seem to be primarily strategic: to improve the companies’ chances to expand in other business areas than outsourcing in the pulp and paper sector and to create reference projects for know-how building. The study shows that energy companies have identified a potential for economically attractive energy conservation projects in the pulp and paper sector. This potential is exploited in so called “operational partnerships” with pulp and paper manufacturers. In operational partnerships the partners share the profit that is made by making industrial processes more efficient. The energy companies’ opportunities to take advantage of such business opportunities improve when closer relations and trust are gained through initiation of outsourcing partnerships with pulp and paper manufacturers. The study shows that it is a requirement for large outsourcing projects involving big investments that they can be designed so that the capital impacts the balance sheet of the energy company (off-balance sheet solutions). The most important barrier against outsourcing identified is the financial accounting standards that determine how the capital involved is accounted for. Due to those standards many energy facilities in the pulp and paper industry cannot be considered for outsourcing, as they do not allow off-balance sheet solutions.QC 20231103</p

Outsourcing of energy facilities in the pulp and paper industry : Motives for outsourcing partnerships between energy companies and pulp and paper manufacturers

Energy companies are developing and marketing outsourcing of energy facilities in the Swedish pulp and paper industry, i.e. solutions where they take over the responsibility for investments, operation and maintenance. In recent years the activity on the market for outsourcing has been intensified. Based on pilot studies of outsourcing cases, this paper analyses motives behind outsourcing, under what conditions outsourcing can work and factors that have an impact on the success of the outsourcing process. The main motive of the pulp and paper manufacturers to outsource was to gain access to external capital. For the energy companies, the two main motives behind the outsourcing projects seem to be primarily strategic: to improve the companies’ chances to expand in other business areas than outsourcing in the pulp and paper sector and to create reference projects for know-how building. The study shows that energy companies have identified a potential for economically attractive energy conservation projects in the pulp and paper sector. This potential is exploited in so called “operational partnerships” with pulp and paper manufacturers. In operational partnerships the partners share the profit that is made by making industrial processes more efficient. The energy companies’ opportunities to take advantage of such business opportunities improve when closer relations and trust are gained through initiation of outsourcing partnerships with pulp and paper manufacturers. The study shows that it is a requirement for large outsourcing projects involving big investments that they can be designed so that the capital impacts the balance sheet of the energy company (off-balance sheet solutions). The most important barrier against outsourcing identified is the financial accounting standards that determine how the capital involved is accounted for. Due to those standards many energy facilities in the pulp and paper industry cannot be considered for outsourcing, as they do not allow off-balance sheet solutions.QC 20231103</p

Potential and cost-effectiveness of CO2-reducing measures in the pulp and paper industry

Using the two criteria of potential CO2 reduction and cost of CO2 reduction several technical options in the pulp and paper industry are investigated. Principal CO2 reducing measures include: decreasing fuel consumption through improved heat exchanging or new processes with lower heat demand, decreasing electricity consumption, substituting fossil fuels with biofuels, exporting refined biofuels for external use, increasing CO2 neutral electricity generation, improving waste heat utilisation and decreasing specific raw material consumption. The results show that electricity conservation and improvement of existing steam power cycles are the most cost-effective options that have a large potential to reduce CO2 emissions. Outsourcing of industrial energy operations to utilities may enable CO2 reducing measures that would not be carried out by industry due to differences in demands for profit on spent capital.QCR 20231113</p

Potential and cost-effectiveness of CO2-reducing measures in the pulp and paper industry

Using the two criteria of potential CO2 reduction and cost of CO2 reduction several technical options in the pulp and paper industry are investigated. Principal CO2 reducing measures include: decreasing fuel consumption through improved heat exchanging or new processes with lower heat demand, decreasing electricity consumption, substituting fossil fuels with biofuels, exporting refined biofuels for external use, increasing CO2 neutral electricity generation, improving waste heat utilisation and decreasing specific raw material consumption. The results show that electricity conservation and improvement of existing steam power cycles are the most cost-effective options that have a large potential to reduce CO2 emissions. Outsourcing of industrial energy operations to utilities may enable CO2 reducing measures that would not be carried out by industry due to differences in demands for profit on spent capital.QCR 20231113</p

Enhanced detection of ATTR amyloid using a nanofibril-based assay

More than 30 proteins and peptides have been found to form amyloid fibrils in human diseases. Fibrils formed by transthyretin (TTR) are associated with ATTR amyloidosis, affecting many vital organs, including the heart and peripheral nervous system. Congo red staining is the gold standard method for detection of amyloid deposits in tissue. However, Congo red staining and amyloid typing methods such as immunofluorescence labelling are limited to relatively large deposits. Detection of small ATTR deposits present at an early stage of the disease could enable timely treatment and prevent severe tissue damage. In this study, we developed an enhanced ATTR amyloid detection method that uses functionalised protein nanofibrils. Using this method, we achieved sensitive detection of monomeric TTR in a microplate immunoassay and immunofluorescence labelling of ex vivo tissue from two patients containing ATTR aggregates. The system's utility was confirmed on sections from a patient with AA amyloidosis and liver sections from inflamed mouse. These results suggest that the detection system constitutes important new technology for highly sensitive detection of microscopic amounts of ATTR amyloid deposited in tissue

Experiences of an In-Service Wizard-of-Oz Data Collection for the Deployment of a Call-Routing Application

This paper describes our experiences of collecting a corpus of 42,000 dialogues for a call-routing application using a Wizard-of-Oz approach. Contrary to common practice in the industry, we did not use the kind of automated application that elicits some speech from the customers and then sends all of them to the same destination, such as the existing touch-tone menu, without paying attention to what they have said. Contrary to the traditional Wizard-of-Oz paradigm,our data-collection application was fully integrated within an existing service, replacing the existing touch-tonenavigation system with a simulated callroutingsystem. Thus, the subjects were real customers calling about real tasks,and the wizards were service agents from our customer care. We provide a detailed exposition of the data collection as such and the application used, and compare our approach to methods previously used