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(2008)Journal ArticleStudies of CO2 capture using membrane technology from coal-fired power-plant flue gas typically assume compression of the feed to achieve a driving force across the membrane. The high CO2 capture cost of these systems reflects the need to compress the low-pressure feed gas (1 bar) and the low CO2 purity of the product stream. This article investigates how costs for CO2 capture using membranes can be reduced by operating under vacuum conditions. The flue gas is pressurized to 1.5 bar, whereas the permeate stream is at 0.08 bar. Under these operating conditions, the capture cost is U.S. $54/tonne CO2 avoided compared to U.S. $82/ tonne CO2 avoided using, membrane processes with a pressurized feed. This is a reduction of 35%. The article also investigates the effect on the capture cost of improvements in CO2 permeability and selectivity. The results show that the capture cost can be reduced to less than U.S. $25/tonne CO2 avoided when the CO2 permeability is 300 barrer, CO2/N2 selectivity is 250, and the membrane cost is U.S. $10/m2.
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(2006)Journal ArticleGreenhouse gas emission sources generally produce mixed gases. Previous studies of CCh capture and storage have typically examined only sequestration of pure CO2. This paper analyzes the cost of separating a gas mixture from a power station flue gas stream and injecting it into an offshore subsurface reservoir. The costs of separating and storing various gas mixtures were analyzed at two extremes. One extreme in which the entire flue gas stream containing both CO2 and N2 is stored. The other extreme in which as much CO2 is separated as is technically possible using gas membrane capture coupled with chemical absorption. The results indicate that for the gases investigated, using a gas membrane capture system, the lowest sequestration cost per tonne of CO2 avoided occurs when a mixed gas with a CO2 content of about 60% is sequestered. Lower costs and higher tonnages of CO2 avoided can be achieved using an amine based absorption capture system. At the lowest cost point, and for most of the range of cases studied, the cost of capture is significantly greater than the cost of storage. However, this depends on the source of the CO 2, the distance between the source and the injection site, and the reservoir into which CO2 is injected.
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(2008)Journal ArticleFire activity has varied globally and continuously since the last glacial maximum (LGM) in response to long-term changes in global climate and shorter-term regional changes in climate, vegetation, and human land use. We have synthesized sedimentary charcoal records of biomass burning since the LGM and present global maps showing changes in fire activity for time slices during the past 21,000 years (as differences in charcoal accumulation values compared to pre-industrial). There is strong broad-scale coherence in fire activity after the LGM, but spatial heterogeneity in the signals increases thereafter. In North America, Europe and southern South America, charcoal records indicate less-than-present fire activity during the deglacial period, from 21,000 to ∼11,000 cal yr BP. In contrast, the tropical latitudes of South America and Africa show greater-than-present fire activity from ∼19,000 to ∼17,000 cal yr BP and most sites from Indochina and Australia show greater-than-present fire activity from 16,000 to ∼13,000 cal yr BP. Many sites indicate greater-than-present or near-present activity during the Holocene with the exception of eastern North America and eastern Asia from 8,000 to ∼3,000 cal yr BP, Indonesia and Australia from 11,000 to 4,000 cal yr BP, and southern South America from 6,000 to 3,000 cal yr BP where fire activity was less than present. Regional coherence in the patterns of change in fire activity was evident throughout the post-glacial period. These complex patterns can largely be explained in terms of large-scale climate controls modulated by local changes in vegetation and fuel load.
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(2008)Journal ArticleA poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) seven-arms star polymer with lysozyme core was synthesized by conjugating linear N-succinimidyl ester terminated PVP polymer to lysozyme. Reactive PVP polymers were synthesized using a MADIX/RAFT agent functionalized with N-succinimidyl ester. The polymerization of N-vinyl pyrrolidone proceeded in a living fashion up to more than 90% conversion reaching molecular weight of up to 33 000 g . mol(-1) with narrow molecular weight distributions. The PVP polymer was conjugated to lysozyme resulting in the attachment of seven PVP polymers to one lysozyme core. While the reaction was found to be complete when using low-molecular weight PVP, some by-products with less than seven arms were observed when using PVP with a molecular weight of 33 000 g . mol(-1).
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(2004)Journal ArticleIncreasing attention is being paid to health and environmental risk as a result of the presence of trace steroid estrogens in the effluent discharged from municipal sewage treatment plants. This paper focuses on assessment of removal of these trace compounds using H-3-labeled estrone as the model compound. Jar tests over a range of ferric chloride dosages and pH conditions showed that coagulation was ineffective in removal of estrone from secondary effluent. The experiments showed that the combination of powdered activated carbon (PAC) and microfiltration could be effective for removal of trace estrone from water. The rate and extent of estrone removal by PAC are functions of PAC dosage and retention time of PAC in the system. Mathematical analysis of the results using a homogeneous surface diffusion model indicates that the adsorption of estrone on PAC can be limited by film diffusion and internal surface diffusion. The surface and film mass transfer coefficients were determined to be 1.59 x 10(-9) cm(2)/ min and 0.6 cm/min, respectively, under the conditions used.
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(2003)Conference Paper
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