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Tech Monitor ( July-August 2000 ) |
| Technology Scan |
| INTERNATIONAL Greenhouse gas reduction ¡¡¡¡Seven global energy companies announced having joined forces to research and develop advanced green house gas emission and reduction technologies, Their focus is CO separation and geologic storage methods. ¡¡¡¡BP Amoco (the project's coordinator), Chevron, Norsk Hydro, the Royal Dutch Shell Group of companies, Statoil, Suncor Energy and Texaco will all participate in the US$ 20 million, year CO Capture Project (CCP). ¡¡¡¡The partners aim to develop effective methods to capture significant amounts of CO from power generation and industrial sources and store the gas in geologic formations below the earth's surface. If successful, the project could lead to a notable reduction in green house gas emissions across a wide range of industries, not just the energy sector. ¡¡¡¡In a joint statement, members of the venture said, "We share society's concern over the issue of climate change. While each member company is actively working to manage its own greenhouse gas emissions through a portfolio of initiatives, this project underscores our joint commitment to developing innovative ways to address the climate change issue. Pooling technical and financial resources in this way will give the project added impetus". ¡¡¡¡The purpose of carbon dioxide separation and geologic storage is to prevent man-made emissions from reaching the atmosphere by capturing the gas and safely storing it in geologic formations deep within the earth. The oil industry has experience in the handling of large volumes of CO., which is injected into approximately 70 oil fields worldwide to enhance oil recovery. ¡¡¡¡The team will sponsor comprehensive research on separation methods, develop procedures and guidelines for monitoring and verifying storage of CO and seek to encourage policies to further the technical and economic viability of CO capture and storage. Participation in the project will also be sought from government agencies in North America and Europe. ¡¡¡¡The technology development phase of the project,
if successful, may be followed by prototype testing and demonstration.
Record number of PCT filings ¡¡¡¡The ten developing countries with the highest number of international applications in 1999 were the Republic of Korea, South Africa, China, Singapore, Brazil, India, Mexico, Barbados, Cuba and Indonesia. By filing just one inter national application, the user can obtain the effect of regular national patent applications in all the PCT states with out initially having to furnish a translation of the application in the local language or paying national fees. National patent granting procedures and related costs are postponed in the majority of cases by up to 18 months. The PCT system offers patent applicants a user friendly and cost effective route for filing their patent application in many countries. WISTA Intellectual property ASIA-PACIFIC ¡¡¡¡With far lower operating costs than diesel generators, a fraction of the installation cost of solar photovoltaic systems and wider applicability than wind turbines. Orion expects significant interest from Australia's numerous operators of remote area power systems. Unlike traditional electricity, which is generated at a low frequency making it difficult to transport, the Solar Turbine Generator can produce electricity at an incredible 600 Hz, making it more efficient to transmit over long distances and ideal of remote locations. Other target markets include eco-friendly residential developments and companies that want to minimize greenhouse emissions. ¡¡¡¡The solar Turbine's close loop process has only one moving part, the turbine shaft. This simplicity results in substantially reduced maintenance costs and longevity compared with traditional diesel generators. ¡¡¡¡The system was developed jointly with UK company TTL Dynamics. TTL Dynamics manufactures the turbine blades and control electronics while the rest of the unit and solar collection troughs are manufactured in Australia. ¡¡¡¡Orion Energy Management is offering 6,15,25,50,100,300,500
and 600 KW units for sale. The units generate electricity at 48V, (415V
50Hz on larger units) and are matched with an inverter that suits the
individual application. Any excess electricity generated can be stored
or sold bank to the grid. "This is a very cost effective and reliable
technology" says Stephen Riddell, CEO of Orion Energy Management.
"Rather than fighting the environment, the Solar Turbine takes full
advantage of Australia's harsh climate, extracting as much useful energy
as possible with current technology. It makes environmental and economic
sense for a wide array of applications". Clean power from waste coal ¡¡¡¡"The process will provide Australian coal mines with a way to dispose of waste coal that is better for the environmental and will also increase the profitability of underground mining", said Beattie. He added that 10 per cent of the energy value of coal in underground mines leaks into the atmosphere in the form of methane gas, which has 21 times the greenhouse gas effect of CO. ¡¡¡¡"Waste coal can now be used to supply coal mines with on site electrical power generation technologies and a new approach towards methane gas reduction", he added. ¡¡¡¡Liquatech CEO, John Hocken, explains that "using this technology for the conversion of waste coal has the potential to produce up to A$ 600 million for the economy over a 10 year period". ¡¡¡¡The research project was officially launched at the Queensland Center for Advanced Technologies (QCAT) on 5 May, with the Premier attending. Contact:: Kyle Roggenkamp INDIA ¡¡¡¡Adding ethanol and methanol to gasolene in the form of blends influenced the octane quality, thermal efficiency and brake specific fuel consumption. It also reduced harmful carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emission, said. P. K. Basu, a member of the research team. ¡¡¡¡During performance test at the department, the team of Bose and Ranjit Chakraborty found an improvement of 23.25 per cent in brake thermal efficiency of spark ignition engines at 15 per cent of methanol with gasolene blend. ¡¡¡¡With ethanol blends, a higher efficiency of 27.12 per cent was reported over pure gasolene, Basu said. "These are clean fuels and their economic viability gives them an edge over non-renewable petroleum diesel, " he explained. "Either of the alcohols can be commercially produced from its ingredients obtained from sugarcane". ¡¡¡¡Technical difficulties of using neat 100 per cent alcohol as a commercially acceptable fuel for use in vehicles have been overcome by using low or medium concentration blends of the alcohols and gasolene, he added. ¡¡¡¡On the 'green' aspect of the blended fuel, he
said carbon monoxide emissions were reduced by about 38 per cent and 66
per cent with methanol and ethanol blends respectively. The fuel can be
used in all existing engines of various makes and also the new small cars
unleashed in the market. Bose and Chakraborty said. Japan ¡¡¡¡The team comprising Takuzo Aida, a professor of Chemistry at the University of Tokyo and graduate students Kiesuke Kageyama and Jun-ichi Tamazawa, polymerized ethylene in mesoporous silica fibre reactors consisting of uniformly sized (27 A) hexagonal pores arranged in parallel. Molecules of the polymerization catalyst titaoncene (Cp, Ti, Cp being cyclopentadienyl) were supported by the wall of each pore. After activating the catalyst, the vessel containing the reactors was pressurized with ethylene gas. ¡¡¡¡Being confined within the narrow pores, the polymer chains formed at the activated titanocene sites had no space to fold themselves. Hence, they were forced to grow out of the framework, like spaghetti extruding from the machine. ¡¡¡¡Aida and co workers call their technique "extrusion polymerization" because it enables the polymer to be extruded as it is synthesized. According to these researchers, this approach mimics the process of making natural fibres by some organisms. For example, highly crystalline cellulose fibres produced by the bacterium Acetobacter xylinum are extruded through nanopores in the cellular membrane where they are formed. ¡¡¡¡According to these researchers, the polyethylene produced by extrusion polymerization is unique in more than one aspect. The fibres, with diameters ranging from 30 to 50 nm, are the thinnest prepared so far from a synthetic polymer. The density of the polymer is also higher (1.01 gm/m3) compared to that of polyethylene produced in a homogeneous system under similar conditions (0.97 gm/m3) ¡¡¡¡The technique not only saves time and money in
the production of functional materials, but also opens doors to polymers
with new properties. "The approach also demonstrates the importance
of proper design of a catalytic system and its spatial surrounding".
Says Dr. K. Matyjaszewski, a professor of chemistry at Carnegie Mellon
University, Pittsburgh. According to Prof. David T. Tirrell of Carnegie
Mellon University, Pittsburgh. According to Prof. David T. Tirrell of
California Institute of Tech nology, an interesting aspect of the approach
is that the polymer chains are regularly oriented in an extended fashion,
unlike ordinary polyethylene crystals, which are folded to form a lamellar
packing. High orientation imparts special properties like high modulus
and high strength to this polymer. MALAYSIA ¡¡¡¡A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the IT Initiative was signed between PEG, United Parcel Services (UPS), Ingenuity Microsystems Malaysia and Oracle Systems Malaysia. Under the deliver them to rural areas in the country; Ingenuity Microsystems will donate computers and install relevant hardware and software packages; and Oracle will provide linkages for its educational software packages to schools. ¡¡¡¡Malaysian Energy, Communications and Multimedia Minister Leo Moggie, who witnessed the signing, said the IT Initiative was aimed at enabling rural communities to be part of the wider global information society. ¡¡¡¡PEG has already promoted its IT initiative in several APEC economies, such as Thailand and Indonesia, and has planned to introduce it soon into China. Vietnam and Peru. http://www.asia-links.com/scripts/postnews/article.asp?newsid=6916 EUROPE Following a favourable vote, the standards are
as follows; ¡¡¡¡A sixth standard EN 13429 on the reuse of packaging
is due to be put to a vote soon. ¡¡¡¡The basic Community Directive for this matter (94/62/EC) is designed to harmonize national packaging standards, to minimize their impact on the environmental, to guarantee the smooth functioning of the Internal Market and to create waste, return, collection and recovery systems. ¡¡¡¡The directive also sets targets for packaging
waste recovery and recycling. The CEN standards offer producers practical
arrangements for applying the prevention and recovery policy. GERMANY ¡¡¡¡A new melting and recycling process can separate toxic residues from contaminated metals and retain them safely in filters and slag. The process, developed by Siempelkamp of Krefeld. Germany was originally meant for the nuclear industry to melt and recycle radioactively contaminated metallic residues from nuclear installations. ¡¡¡¡Extensive research revealed that this process was suitable for the recovery of chemically contaminated metals along with the nuclear wastes. Siempelkamps developed the procedure with a melting process to separate the toxic residues for recycling and disposal. The Siempelkamp GERTA plant (a large scale plant for recycling of toxic wastes) started operating in January 1998. ¡¡¡¡The key element of the GERTA plant is its advanced
furnace with an exhaust hood to limit emissions. The special charging
device is also connected to the exhaust. Mercury evaporates during the
melting process and passes through the exhaust over to the filter plant.
Here, it undergoes three steps: ¡¡¡¡To ensure the safe operation of the process,
data pertaining to gas emissions and ambient air in the workshop, and
analyses of recycled material and residues are monitored at regular intervals.
After melting, the metal is cast into ingots. As this metal does not contain
any contaminants, it can be used in the iron and steel industry. The slag
can be used for road construction. THE NETHERLANDS ¡¡¡¡A simple water treatment technology which removes all hydrocarbons from water in a single step has been developed by a Dutch chemical company. Akzo Nobel. The technology involves what they call the MPPE system macroporous polymer extraction system. It is claimed that 99.999 per cent of hydrocarbon contaminants can be removed with this system. ¡¡¡¡The system comprises a set of polymer particles in a packed bed column, in which a proprietary non-polar extraction liquid is immobilized. Water to be cleaned is passed through the packed bed, during which hydrocarbons are absorbed by the extraction liquid. The pore structure and the extractive liquid are fixed, though the company has adapted the technology to work in high pH situations. ¡¡¡¡The company claims that their mini units can treat water at a flow rate of 1 m3 per hour, while regular units have a capacity of 120 m3 per hour. This capacity can be increased by running parallel columns to cope with higher flow rates. According to Akzo Nobel's annual report, a wide range of hydrocarbons can be removed with this technology. These include aromatics, aliphatics, chlorinated and other halogenated materials, and polyaromatic hydrocarbons. Dissolved inorganic solids, such as salts, minerals and metals, pass through the extraction columns without interference or interaction. Even large quantities of non-extractable compounds such as alcohols and ketones have no effect on the extractability of these hydrocabons. ¡¡¡¡An MPP system basically has two columns. In one column, extraction of hydrocarbons is done while the other is cleaned and regenerated via low pressure steam. The steam cleaning cycle takes about one hour to be ready for reuse. The steam consumption rate is about 3 kg per m3, compared with roughly 100 kg per m3 of water required for steam stripping. The purified water from the columns can be recycled or discharged, and the extracted hydrocarbons can be used as fuel. ¡¡¡¡The water to be cleaned may be groundwater, process water or waste-water. The technology is already involved in treating process water on off shore oil rigs making a large number of high quality arrays. ¡¡¡¡Journal of Scientific and Industrial Research UK Energy from wood chips ¡¡¡¡Europe's first commercial biomass gas-ification electricity generating plant to be fuelled by wood is being constructed in northern England. The plant will produce electricity to serve a town of 18000 people. It is fuelled with wood clippings made from forest residues and from wood specially grown with the short rotation coopicing technique. ¡¡¡¡The new power plant uses coppice wood and is based on the principle that energy from the sun stored by plants, as they grow, can be converted into useful energy for humans. Wood fuels do not add to the carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere because CO2 released by burning is equal to that taken by the tree during its growth. The power plant has also been designed to acid rain from fossil fuel use. Introducing shortrotation coppicing into arable farming may also benefit farmers by providing a low input alternative crop, as the power plant will operate all year round. The station generates 10 MW of electricity, 8 MW of which is fed into local electricity supply system and the remainder will be used at the plant itself. Efficiency is obtained b the combination of a gas turbine and a steam turbine to drive the plant's generators. At the power plant the wood is fed into a gasifier at about 900 and, with the injection of air, it will be partially oxidized to create a volatile combustible gas. ¡¡¡¡After cleaning and cooling operations the gas will be used to fuel the turbine. This is connected to an electricity generator to produce 4.75 MW of electricity. The exhaust gases will be. NORTH AMERICA CANADA ¡¡¡¡The SUBBOR process developed by Super Blue Box Recycling Gorp. In Canada is an environmentally sound waste management technology that recycles 100 per cent of waste and is claimed to be economically competitive. The process recycles 100 per cent of waste through conventional recycling and multi-stage enhanced anaerobic digestion. The process is economically competitive due to the improved effectiveness of the process over other recycling technologies. ¡¡¡¡The process consists of three major stages. : conventional recycling; enhanced, multi stage anaerobic digestion; and solid products post treatment The multi stage anaerobic digestion stage mimics natural digestion processes (such as those occurring in swamps) creating methane rich biogas as the waste's mass is reduced. The biogas is then used to fuel the power plant. ¡¡¡¡The simplified, conventional recycling stage allows valuable materials such as aluminium containers to be recovered while less easily recovered recyclable materials are passed on to the digestion stage for recovergy at the post treatment stage. As compared to competing recycling technologies, the simplified recycling stage offers capital and operating cost savings. ¡¡¡¡At the enhanced multi-stage anaerobic digestion stage, mass reduction is significantly improved over competing technologies, resulting in increased biogas production and energy sales. The final post treatment stage ensures that product solids are saleable as soil amendments and also recovers inert materials and recyclable materials. ¡¡¡¡The three stages of the SUBBOR process combine to offer significant environmental improvements over existing waste management technologies and ensure that the process is economically competitive. Contact: Gregory M. Vogt, President USA ¡¡¡¡Attractive because of their energy efficient and non-polluting nature, fuel cells employ catalyzed electrochemical reactions (not combustion) to convert fuels to elective power. Many substances, including methane and methanol, have been examined as candidate fuels for these power sources but with limited success. ¡¡¡¡Now these researchers have developed electrode materials that enable common hydrocarbons like butane to liberate their stored electrochemical energy. The key to the improved performance in these solid oxide fuel cells is using anodes made of a composite of copper and ceria in place of conventional ceramic metal composite. Using their redesigned anode materials, the researchers tested fuel cells on a variety of hydrocarbons, with very promising results. Chemical Industry Digest The improvement in the operation of a thermal oxidizer occurs during regeneration, when particulates collected in the adsorber are removed from the adsorber and introduced into the thermal oxidizer. According to the company, this patented technique regulates the concentration of adsorbates in the regenerative steam passed to the thermal oxidizer. The concentration of adsorbates introduced into the thermal oxidizer throughout the duration of the regenerative cycle is regulated, preventing excessive deviations from average concentration of adsorbates. For more information, contact: Waste tyre disposal technology ¡¡¡¡The process of waste tyre disposal begins with the delivery to EDTNM, by rail or truck, of discarded types. The tyres are shredded to a minus 2¡Á2 particle size using a mobile shredder and then transported to the EDT processing installation. The tyre chips are fed into the gasifier retort by means of a closed feed hopper and augur system. ¡¡¡¡Because this is a closed system, there are no emissions or pollution. From the retort, the gas is directed into mechanical cleaner and cooling modules, and from there into an electrostatic precipitator for fine particulate removal. All contaminants, such as complex sulphur compounds, dioxins, furans, and zinc oxides are removed and chemically neutralized or modified. The cleaned gas product is then immediately available and ready for use. ¡¡¡¡EDTNM recently announced that it has offered to accept and receive scrap or waste tyres, with no minimum or maximum amount required at their facility in Albuquerque, NM. For scrap tyre volumes of 500000 or more EDTNM will shred the tyres locally and ship them to the gasification plant. For volumes over 1500000 EDTNM will shred the tyres and install a gasification process plant near the supply site, saving all transport or freight cost. For more information, contact: Biotechnology for Food and Environment Security The special feature of Tech Monitor, Nov-Dec 2000 issue |