Economic considerations in coverting from oil/gas firing to coal

Economic considerations involved in fuel conversion such as from oil and/or gas firing to coal are discussed including investments costs for new facilities and equipment (including air pollution control equipment), operation and maintenance costs, and purchased fuel costs. An analytical approach to assessing the cost effectiveness of fuel conversion in terms of the annual net cost of conversion, the equivalent annual number of barrels of oil saved, and the integral rate of return of the conversion investment is presented. Illustrative numerical examples are presented for typical utility boilers and industrial boiler facilities. A further consideration addressed deals with the impacts of these costs on the overall financial structure of the firm and the ability of the firm to raise the necessary investment captial

Chiral Hadronic Mean Field Model including Quark Degrees of Freedom

In an approach inspired by Polyakov loop extended NJL models, we present a nonlinear hadronic SU(3) sigma-omega mean field model augmented by quark degrees of freedom. By introducing the effective Polyakov loop related scalar field \Phi and an associated effective potential, the model includes all known hadronic degrees of freedom at low temperatures and densities as well as a quark phase at high temperatures and densities. Hadrons in the model exhibit a finite volume in order to suppress baryons at high T and \mu. This ensures that the right asymptotic degrees of freedom are attained for the description of strongly interacting matter and allows to study the QCD phase diagram in a wide range of temperatures and chemical potentials. Therefore, with this model it is possible to study the phase transition of chiral restoration and deconfinement. In this paper, the impact of quarks on the resulting phase diagram is shown. The results from the chiral model are compared to recent data from lattice QCD.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figure

The Measures and the loss - Case Study on non-tariff barriers related to veterinary export certificates in Dutch exports

Case study research into the mandatory veterinary requirements on Dutch exports of live animals and animal products provides empirical evidence on the trade effects of nontariff measures (NTMs). The paper discusses the analytical approach to assess how veterinary health attestation may create (temporary) obstacles for Dutch exports, what these obstacles are, and whether competing exporters in EU countries have encountered similar barriers. We have a dataset on 166 cases in 2004-06 where the process of issuing veterinary certificates for Dutch exports to non- EU destinations was disrupted. Products covered are animal-based products, live animals and feed. We use a sample of 30 cases that continued after 2006, the ‘longlasting problems’, and 39 cases that came up and got solved between 2004 and 2006, the temporary problems. The main challenge is to link the available record of recognition problems to the disruptions in exports. In order to assess trade disruptions, statistical tests of outliers and trend breaches are performed on detailed monthly trade data, and the issue of not-observed trade needs to be addressed. This raises the need to address disruption patterns around the imposition of measures in trade. The alternative patterns under examination are (i) measures that have an immediate trade impact, (ii) measures due to which trade gradually expands or reduces, and (iii) measures that divert trade to alternative export destinations. Finally, we want to examine whether the impact of veterinary health attestation on trade can be specified towards the type of trade barrier. For that, we suggest to introduce a distinction between three different types of barriers, based on whether obstacles relate to the non-conformity of products to import requirements or a failure in the conformity assessment or both.non-tariff measures, conformity assessment, animal products, International Relations/Trade, Livestock Production/Industries,