Restructuring Plant Operations and Contracts to Make a First Generation RDF Plant Competitive in a Cost-Driven Market

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Vrchota
Keyword(s):  
Energy Recovery ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Processing Plant ◽  
Financial Conditions ◽  
Refuse Derived Fuel ◽  
Ferrous Material ◽  
Heavy Residue ◽  
Plant Operations ◽  
One Year ◽  
Phase Out

In 1989, United Power Association (now Great River Energy) and Northern States Power (now Xcel Energy) formed a partnership and entered a 20 year contract with five local counties to turn MSW (municipal solid waste) into RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) and combust the RDF in converted grate-fired boilers in Elk River, MN. Great River Energy owned and operated the Energy Recovery Station (ERS) and Xcel Energy operated the Resource Processing Plant (RPP) a few miles away. The Resource Processing Plant processed 400,000 tons/year of MSW into RDF for the Energy Recovery Station and other RDF plants owned by Xcel Energy. The project was successful, but required significant subsidies from the counties to maintain competitive tipping fees. At the end of the original 20 year contract, a number of the counties wanted to reduce or end any subsidies and restructure the contracts. In the fall of 2009, lack of contracted MSW created difficult financial conditions that threatened to end the project and divert 400,000 tons/year of MSW to area landfills. In May of 2010, Great River Energy purchased the Resource Processing Plant and reorganized the project to be able to better control operating costs and maintain competitive electric rates for its customers. In 2011, Great River Energy restructured processing contracts with three of the original counties and also directly contracted with the regional MSW haulers while implementing sweeping changes in the processing of MSW. A cleaning system was installed to increase the value of the ferrous material collected during the production of RDF. The installation of a bulky waste shredder and processing changes increased the efficiency of converting MSW to RDF. In addition, the recovery of non-ferrous materials from the MSW and heavy residue was optimized. In one year of operation, the Resource Processing Plant has increased RDF production from 84% to over 95% and decreased landfilling to near zero while increasing the revenue from recovered materials. County subsidies have been significantly reduced and will phase out after 2015, tipping fees have been adjusted to be competitive with local landfills, and electric costs have been stabilized at comparable renewable energy rates.

Gas Processing Plant Operations

2019 ◽  
pp. 509-535
Author(s):  
Saeid Mokhatab ◽  
William A. Poe ◽  
John Y. Mak
Keyword(s):  
Processing Plant ◽  
Gas Processing ◽  
Plant Operations

scholarly journals Prime-boost vaccination regimens with INO-4800 and INO-4802 augment and broaden immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 in nonhuman primates

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jewell N Walters ◽  
Blake Schouest ◽  
Ami Patel ◽  
Emma L Reuschel ◽  
Katherine Schultheis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dna Vaccine ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Rhesus Macaques ◽  
Natural Infection ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Synthetic Dna ◽  
One Year ◽  
Global Population

The enhanced transmissibility and immune evasion associated with emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants demands the development of next-generation vaccines capable of inducing superior protection amid a shifting pandemic landscape. Since a portion of the global population harbors some level of immunity from vaccines based on the original Wuhan-Hu-1 SARS-CoV-2 sequence or natural infection, an important question going forward is whether this immunity can be boosted by next-generation vaccines that target emerging variants while simultaneously maintaining long-term protection against existing strains. Here, we evaluated the immunogenicity of INO-4800, our synthetic DNA vaccine candidate for COVID-19 currently in clinical evaluation, and INO-4802, a next-generation DNA vaccine designed to broadly target emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, as booster vaccines in nonhuman primates. Rhesus macaques primed over one year prior with the first-generation INO-4800 vaccine were boosted with either INO-4800 or INO-4802 in homologous or heterologous prime-boost regimens. Both boosting schedules led to an expansion of antibody responses which were characterized by improved neutralizing and ACE2 blocking activity across wild-type SARS-CoV-2 as well as multiple variants of concern. These data illustrate the durability of immunity following vaccination with INO-4800 and additionally support the use of either INO-4800 or INO-4802 in prime-boost regimens.

scholarly journals Refuse-derived Fuel Energy Recovery by Plasma Technology

2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marián Lázár ◽  
Marta Lengyelová ◽  
Mária Čarnogurská ◽  
Ľubomíra Širillová
Keyword(s):  
Energy Recovery ◽  
Plasma Technology ◽  
Refuse Derived Fuel

scholarly journals Treatment of head and neck cancer with photodynamic therapy: results after one year

1995 ◽  
Vol 109 (11) ◽  
pp. 1072-1076 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. G. Dtlkes ◽  
M. L. DeJode ◽  
Q. Gardiner ◽  
G. S. Kenyon ◽  
P. McKelvie
Keyword(s):  
Head And Neck Cancer ◽  
Photodynamic Therapy ◽  
Head And Neck ◽  
Neck Cancer ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Sufficient Evidence ◽  
Clinical Responses ◽  
Promising Treatment ◽  
One Year ◽  
Multicentre Prospective Study

AbstractPhotodynamic therapy (PDT) is a new and promising treatment modality for the treatment of malignant disease. This paper reports the preliminary experience of our group in the use of this therapy for the treatment of tumours arising in the head and neck. The majority of treatments in these cases have used a second generation systemic photosensitizer, meta-tetrahydroxyphenylchlorin (m-THPC). Two other cases were treated with either Photofrin 2 (a first generation systemic sensitizer) or with the topical photosensitizer, delta-aminolaevulinic acid (δ-ALA).The initial results have been encouraging with good clinical responses evident in patients presenting with a variety of differing tumour types. We feel there is now sufficient evidence of the efficacy of this treatment to warrant a multicentre prospective study into the treatment of early head and neck cancer with PDT.

Gas Processing Plant Operations

2015 ◽  
pp. 437-465
Author(s):  
Saeid Mokhatab ◽  
William A. Poe ◽  
John Y. Mak
Keyword(s):  
Processing Plant ◽  
Gas Processing ◽  
Plant Operations

Design Improvements and ALARA at U.S. Uranium In Situ Recovery Facilities

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. H. Brown
Keyword(s):  
First Generation ◽  
Processing Plant ◽  
Health Physics ◽  
Uranium Recovery ◽  
Gaseous Oxygen ◽  
Current Generation ◽  
Solution Mining ◽  
Commercial Scale ◽  
In Situ Recovery

In the last few years, there has been a significant increase in the demand for Uranium as historical inventories have been consumed and new reactor orders are being placed. Numerous mineralized properties around the world are being evaluated for Uranium recovery and new mining / milling projects are being evaluated and developed. Ore bodies which are considered uneconomical to mine by conventional methods such as tunneling or open pits, can be candidates for non-conventional recovery techniques, involving considerably less capital expenditure. Technologies such as Uranium In Situ Leaching / In Situ Recovery (ISL / ISR - also refered to as “solution mining”), have enabled commercial scale mining and milling of relatively small ore pockets of lower grade, and are expected to make a significant contribution to overall world wide uranium supplies over the next ten years. Commercial size solution mining production facilities have operated in the US since the mid 1970’s. However, current designs are expected to result in less radiological wastes and emissions relative to these “first” generation plants (which were designed, constructed and operated through the 1980s). These early designs typically used alkaline leach chemistries in situ including use of ammonium carbonate which resulted in groundwater restoration challenges, open to air recovery vessels and high temperature calcining systems for final product drying vs the “zero emmisions” vaccum dryers as typically used today. Improved containment, automation and instrumentation control and use of vacuum dryers in the design of current generation plants are expected to reduce production of secondary waste byproduct material, reduce Radon emisions and reduce potential for employee exposure to uranium concentrate aerosols at the back end of the milling process. In Situ Recovery in the U.S. typically involves the circulation of groundwater, fortified with oxidizing (gaseous oxygen e.g) and complexing agents (carbon dioxide, e.g) into an ore body, solubilizing the uranium in situ, and then pumping the solutions to the surface where they are fed to a processing plant (mill). Processing involves ion exchange and may also include precipitation, drying or calcining and packaging operations depending on facility specifics. This paper presents an overview of the ISR process and the health physics monitoring programs developed at a number of commercial scale ISL / ISR Uranium recovery and production facillities as a result of the radiological character of these processes. Although many radiological aspects of the process are similar to that of conventional mills, conventional-type tailings as such are not generated. However, liquid and solid byproduct materials may be generated and impounded. The quantity and radiological character of these by products are related to facility specifics. Some special monitoring considerations are presented which are required due to the manner in which radon gas is evolved in the process and the unique aspects of controlling solution flow patterns underground. The radiological character of these procesess are described using empirical data collected from many operating facilities. Additionally, the major aspects of the health physics and radiation protection programs that were developed at these first generation facilities are discussed and contrasted to circumstances of the current generation and state of the art of uranium ISR technologies and facilities.

Causes of Variations in Effectiveness of Bracon cephi (Gahan) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) as a Parasite of the Wheat Stem Sawfly

1963 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. D. Holmes ◽  
W. A. Nelson ◽  
L. K. Peterson ◽  
C. W. Farstad
Keyword(s):  
Host Plants ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
Wheat Stem Sawfly ◽  
Sawfly Larvae ◽  
Early Ripening ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
One Year ◽  
High Level

AbstractAdults of B. cephi emerged at the same time as the adults of their host, the wheat stem sawfly, and started to oviposit about mid-July. The second generation started to emerge between August 5 and 15. This generation, which was complete in some years, was apparently only partial in years in which adults of the first generation continued to oviposit late in the season. In most cases the larvae of Bracon that were present at harvest time were from eggs laid after August 1.Most of the overwintering B. cephi were located in the lower internodes of the sawfly-infested wheat stems. Although B. cephi attacked some sawfly larvae in their stubs most sawflies escaped parasitism once they had cut their host stems.High host densities per stem in hollow-stemmed wheats were detrimental to Bracon during the early part of the season as the unparasitized sawfly larvae in stems containing B. cephi destroyed the parasite larvae.The sawfly-susceptible wheats were more suitable than the resistant for parasitism. Generally, differences in parasitism between wheats and between barleys were caused by differences in length of survival of the sawfly larvae in the different host plants; longer survival led to higher parasitism.The fluctuations in amounts of parasitism mainly depended on the synchronization of development between B. cephi and the sawfly. Parasitism increased when the sawfly larvae cut their host stems sufficiently late to allow establishment by the second generation of B. cephi and decreased when the sawfly cut too early for parasitism by the second generation. The date of ripening of the host plant governs the date of cutting by the sawfly; hence, the amount of parasitism is influenced by the levels of soil moisture and temperature during the growing season, by differences in rate of development of various plant hosts, and by the date of seeding. Low levels of parasitism resulted from early ripening of the sawfly host plants in two consecutive years, whereas a moderately high level occurred even though the weather of the current year was conducive to early ripening, provided that the wheat in the preceding year had ripened late. It appears that moderate to high levels of parasitism required that the crop ripen late in at least one year out of two.

scholarly journals FINANCIAL HEALTH OF ENTERPRISES INTRODUCING SAFEGUARD PROCEDURE BASED ON BANKRUPTCY MODELS

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 692-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaroslav Schönfeld ◽  
Michal Kuděj ◽  
Luboš Smrčka
Keyword(s):  
Descriptive Statistics ◽  
Financial Health ◽  
Z Score ◽  
Problematic Situation ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Financial Situation ◽  
Financial Conditions ◽  
Time Period ◽  
One Year ◽  
The Individual

This paper is focused on the financial situation of enterprises introducing safeguard procedure (in other words moratorium) in the Czech Republic. The paper’s aim is to show if the enterprises asking for the safeguard procedure do have financial conditions for recovering and maintaining the going concern principle. The safeguard procedure should help the enterprise to solve their problematic situation because it protects them against creditors for the court approved time period. The safeguard procedure cannot be successful when the financial situation is extremely poor and therefore this paper analyses the enterprises’ financial situation upon applying for safeguard. The situation is evaluated using bankruptcy models, such as Altman Z-Score, Kralicek Quick Test, IN 99 and IN05. The evaluation is conducted in different time moments, specifically one year, two years and three years before implementing the safeguard procedure. Results for the individual enterprises are summed up by basic descriptive statistics as mean, median, low and upper quartiles. The results show that the financial situation of most enterprises was very poor before introducing the safeguard procedure and it had deteriorated during the years before.

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