Techno-economic feasibility study for mobile small scale combined heat and power incineration plant

Maailmalla on kasvava jäteongelma. Tämän diplomityön tarkoitus on selvittää, kannattaako Ferroplan Oy:n kehittää uutta jätteenpolttokonseptia hajautettuun energiatuotantoon ja paikallisten jäteongelmien ratkaisuksi. Tavoitteena on polttaa jätteet ja tuottaa samalla sähköä ja lämpöä yhteistuotannolla. Tässä työssä selvitetään, onko tällainen uusi konsepti teknisesti mahdollista toteuttaa, ja onko se taloudellisesti kannattava Suomessa. Työssä simuloidaan kannattavuuslaskennan menetelmin uuden konseptin soveltuvuutta eri asiakasryhmille. Lisäksi tutkitaan, löytyykö markkinoilta soveltuvaa teknologiaa konseptin toteuttamiseksi. Kirjallisuusselvityksen ja tarjouskyselyjen mukaan haasteita voi tulla löytää sopiva arinapolttolaite pienen kokoluokan jätteenpolttoon ja sopiva höyryä tuottava lämmöntalteenottokattila. Muun tekniikan osalta uusi konsepti on mahdollista toteuttaa Suomessa kohtuullisin kustannuksin. Kannattavuuslaskelma ja herkkyystarkastelut osoittivat, että hajautettu jätteenpolttoon perustuva sähkön ja lämmön yhteistuotanto voi olla kannattavaa liiketoimintaa. Tämän työn tulosten pohjalta on mahdollisuus kehittää uusi voimalaitoskonsepti kannattavaksi liiketoiminnaksi, kun potentiaalisille asiakkaille pystytään perustelemaan investoinnin kannattavuus.The waste problem in the world is rising. Company in case, the Ferroplan Oy want’s to develop a new waste incineration concept. This Master’s thesis purpose is to evaluate, if there is a good cause to develop a new waste incineration concept, to answer the waste problems locally. The object is to incinerate different kind of waste and produce energy as decentralized solution. In this thesis it was examined, if this kind of new concept has a technical feasibility and profitability. The profitability analysis was done by calculation simulations for various customer cases. Also the technology availability for the main equipment was investigated from market. Availability of the grate furnace and steam producing waste heat recovery boiler might be a challenge. Other main equipment’s for the small scale combined heat and power plant are mature technology. According to the literature survey and the quotations made for the main equipment delivering companies, the new concept is possible to implement in Finland with reasonable investment cost. Profitability study and sensitive analysis indicate that small scale incineration based on the combined heat and power production can be a profitable economic activity. This study can be a platform for developing a new power plant concept for profitable business as the reason for the investment can be demonstrated for potential customers

Settle Down! Ranging Behaviour Responses of Roe Deer to Different Capture and Release Methods

Simple Summary The study of animal movement in wild, free ranging species is fundamental for advancing knowledge on ecosystem relationships and for conservation. The deployment of bio-logging devices to this purpose (often GPS-collars in large mammals) requires relatively invasive procedures, such as capture, handling and release. Capture and manipulation cause behavioural modifications that are largely understudied in wild species and may affect both the welfare of animals and the output of the studies. We evaluated post capture and release ranging behaviour responses of a small deer species (roe deer Capreolus capreolus) for five different capture methods across 14 study sites within the EURODEER collaborative project. Roe deer showed modifications in their movement behaviour, independently of the capture method. However, individuals recovered rapidly, converging towards the average behaviour within a relatively short interval of time (between 10 days and one month), demonstrating a general resilience to such stressful events. We encourage researchers to continually adapt capture and handling methods so as to minimize stress and prioritize animal welfare. The fitting of tracking devices to wild animals requires capture and handling which causes stress and can potentially cause injury, behavioural modifications that can affect animal welfare and the output of research. We evaluated post capture and release ranging behaviour responses of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) for five different capture methods. We analysed the distance from the centre of gravity and between successive locations, using data from 14 different study sites within the EURODEER collaborative project. Independently of the capture method, we observed a shorter distance between successive locations and contextual shift away from the home range centre of gravity after the capture and release event. However, individuals converged towards the average behaviour within a relatively short space of time (between 10 days and one month). If researchers investigate questions based on the distance between successive locations of the home range, we recommend (1) initial investigation to establish when the animals start to behave normally again or (2) not using the first two to three weeks of data for their analysis. We also encourage researchers to continually adapt methods to minimize stress and prioritize animal welfare wherever possible, according to the Refinement of the Three R's

Settle down! Ranging behaviour responses of roe deer to different capture and release methods

16openInternationalInternational coauthor/editorThe fitting of tracking devices to wild animals requires capture and handling which causes stress and can potentially cause injury, behavioural modifications that can affect animal welfare and the output of research. We evaluated post capture and release ranging behaviour responses of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) for five different capture methods. We analysed the distance from the centre of gravity and between successive locations, using data from 14 different study sites within the EURODEER collaborative project. Independently of the capture method, we observed a shorter distance between successive locations and contextual shift away from the home range centre of gravity after the capture and release event. However, individuals converged towards the average behaviour within a relatively short space of time (between 10 days and one month). If researchers investigate questions based on the distance between successive locations of the home range, we recommend (1) initial investigation to establish when the animals start to behave normally again or (2) not using the first two to three weeks of data for their analysis. We also encourage researchers to continually adapt methods to minimize stress and prioritize animal welfare wherever possible, according to the Refinement of the Three R’sopenBergvall, Ulrika A; Morellet, Nicolas; Kjellander, Petter; Rauset, Geir R; Groeve, Johannes De; Borowik, Tomasz; Brieger, Falko; Gehr, Benedikt; Heurich, Marco; Hewison, A J Mark; Kröschel, Max; Pellerin, Maryline; Saïd, Sonia; Soennichsen, Leif; Sunde, Peter; Cagnacci, FrancescaBergvall, U.A.; Morellet, N.; Kjellander, P.; Rauset, G.R.; Groeve, J.D.; Borowik, T.; Brieger, F.; Gehr, B.; Heurich, M.; Hewison, A.J.M.; Kröschel, M.; Pellerin, M.; Saïd, S.; Soennichsen, L.; Sunde, P.; Cagnacci, F

No evidence for a ‘warning effect’ of blue light in roe deer

Physiological investigations of cervid eyes have revealed two different types of cones indicating high visual sensitivity in the ‘blue’ and ‘green’ spectral range (400–450 nm and 510–540 nm). Although detailed knowledge about light perception in large mammals is still missing, light reflecting devices such as wildlife warning reflectors are frequently used in animalvehicle collision mitigation. Light of wavelengths in the range of 440–490 nm (‘blue’ light) has recently been advocated to evoke a warning effect in cervids due to its rare occurrence in the natural environment. We conducted a behavioural study with captive roe deer Capreolus capreolus to investigate whether roe deer exhibit a specific behavioural response to ‘blue’ light (wavelengths 440–490 nm). Compartmented feeders were pseudo-randomly illuminated with either ‘blue’ (colour: blue, 440–490 nm) or ‘warm-white’ light (colour: yellow-orange, 575–675 nm), or left unilluminated to assess changes in feeding time and feeder-compartment choice in dependence of illumination. Although feeding times were found to be generally shorter under illumination there was no difference between illumination types. Moreover, roe deer favoured the illuminated feeder compartment over non-illuminated ones. Our results highlight that roe deer differentiate between light and no light conditions while ‘blue’ light (440–490 nm) did not exert a ‘warning effect’ in roe deer

Do roe deer react to wildlife warning reflectors? A test combining a controlled experiment with field observations

Millions of animals are killed by vehicle collisions each year. As mitigation measures, wildlife warning reflectors have become increasingly popular, although clear evidence for their effectiveness is lacking. A reason for inconclusive results in the literature may be that most previous studies on the effectiveness of wildlife warning reflectors compare animal-vehicle collision rates with and without reflectors, a setting characterised by low event rates and weak experimental control. Animal behaviour can be expected to provide a more direct evidence for a possible effect of reflectors. In this study, we analyse roe deer behaviour in the presence of a blue semicircle reflector, one of the most frequently applied wildlife warning reflectors in Germany and other parts of Europe. Behavioural response to these reflectors (classified as no reaction, vigilance, short-distance flight and long-distance flight) was recorded both under controlled experimental conditions with captive roe deer and for free-ranging roe deer at road sections with traffic occurrence. We used generalised linear mixed models (GLMMs) to test if reflector presence induced threat-related behaviour (vigilance, flight) and movement away from the reflectors. We found no significant evidence that the light stimulus emitted by reflectors was perceived as a threat or induced evasive movement. We conclude that our study provides no evidence that blue semicircle reflectors induce behaviour in roe deer that seems suitable to reduce roe deer-vehicle collisions

Annual variation of movement activity and the predicted road crossing occurrence for animals of intersecting home-range type (i.e. roads included in the home-range).

<p>Bars depict variation in movement activity for male and female deer throughout the year. Bold lines show the corresponding number of weekly road crossings predicted by the large-scale model (for animals of type ‘intersect’) and thin lines indicate 95% confidence intervals over the fixed effects. Predictions were obtained with continuous covariates set to the median.</p

Final model results for the analysis of road crossing probabilities (CP).

<p>Model coefficients (ß), coefficient standard errors of all predictors (SE (ß)) and p-values (p) are provided. All predictors were standardised to allow for comparison of effect sizes. Variables with a p-value < = 0.05 are highlighted <i>italic</i>.</p

Conceptual illustration of the spatial layout of a study site in southwestern Germany.

<p>Four study sites were located in the Upper Rhine Valley (A) and another in the Hegau region (B). All sites were characterised by forest—open land mosaics and intermediary traffic volume. Exemplary weekly crossing frequencies (<i>CF</i>) are visualised for animals that utilised roads in their home ranges (HR) (HR allocation ‘intersect’) and those that used roads as HR boundaries (‘adjacent’).</p

Roads constrain movement across behavioural processes in a partially migratory ungulate

Background: Human disturbance alters animal movement globally and infrastructure, such as roads, can act as physical barriers that impact behavior across multiple spatial scales. In ungulates, roads can particularly hamper key ecological processes such as dispersal and migration, which ensure functional connectivity among populations, and may be particularly important for population performance in highly human-dominated landscapes. The impact of roads on some aspects of ungulate behavior has already been studied. However, potential differences in response to roads during migration, dispersal and home range movements have never been evaluated. Addressing these issues is particularly important to assess the resistance of European landscapes to the range of wildlife movement processes, and to evaluate how animals adjust to anthropogenic constraints. Methods: We analyzed 95 GPS trajectories from 6 populations of European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) across the Alps and central Europe. We investigated how roe deer movements were affected by landscape characteristics, including roads, and we evaluated potential differences in road avoidance among resident, migratory and dispersing animals (hereafter, movement modes). First, using Net Squared Displacement and a spatio-temporal clustering algorithm, we classified individuals as residents, migrants or dispersers. We then identified the start and end dates of the migration and dispersal trajectories and retained only the GPS locations that fell between those dates (i.e., during transience). Finally, we used the resulting trajectories to perform an integrated step selection analysis. Results: We found that roe deer moved through more forested areas during the day and visited less forested areas at night. They also minimized elevation gains and losses along their movement trajectories. Road crossings were strongly avoided at all times of day, but when they occurred, they were more likely to occur during longer steps and in more forested areas. Road avoidance did not vary among movement modes, and during dispersal and migration, it remained high and consistent with that expressed during home range movements. Conclusions: Roads can represent a major constraint to movement across modes and populations, potentially limiting functional connectivity at multiple ecological scales. In particular, they can affect migrating individuals that track seasonal resources, and dispersing animals searching for novel range