Economic Analysis of Atomization Drying of Concentrated Solution Based on Zero Discharge of Desulphurization Wastewater

With the improvement of environmental protection requirements, more and more attention has been given to desulphurization wastewater with zero discharge in coal power plants. Atomization drying is part of the main zero discharge technologies at present. Economic analysis of the atomization drying of desulphurization wastewater is beneficial to the formulation of an appropriate operation scheme and to the reduction of operation costs. The economic analysis and sensitivity analysis of different operating conditions such as unit load, the handling capacity of concentrates, and the temperature of the extracted flue gas in the atomization drying process of concentrated desulfurized wastewater were carried out in this paper. The main cost of the drying process came from the influence of flue gas extraction on the overall heat transfer in the boiler, resulting in the decrease in power generation revenue, which can reach more than 80%. The operating cost of auxiliary machinery was relatively low. The cost of treatment for per ton of concentrates increased first and then decreased with the increase in temperature of the extracted flue gas, and it decreased with the increase in the handling capacity of the concentrates. The effect of a unit load on the treatment cost was also related to the temperature of the extracted flue gas, and the optimal flue gas temperature increase to higher temperatures as the unit load decreased. The minimum treatment costs per ton of concentrate ranged from CNY 143.54/t to CNY 158.77/t under different unit loads. Sensitivity analysis showed that the temperature of the extracted flue gas had the greatest impact on treatment cost, and its sensitivity coefficient was 0.0834. The ways in which to improve economic benefits were discussed.

Development and Application of a Novel Hydrogen Sulfide Scavenger for Oilfield Applications

Currently used scavengers in mixed production applications can have issues with poor efficiency and thermal stability (triazines, glyoxal), scaling tendency (triazines), corrosivity (glyoxal), and emulsification (metal-based scavengers). Research was conducted which resulted in a new scavenger that avoids negative side effects while maintaining efficient performance over a wide range of applications. The application of this scavenger into mixed production can avoid or reduce the need for H2S removal post-separation, thereby reducing overall cost. The development and field application of a new Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) Scavenger in oilfield mixed production applications is presented. Several field applications will be discussed comparing the overall performance of this new H2S scavenger with existing technologies. Field application results will show that this novel scavenger avoids issues with currently used scavengers including poor efficiency, corrosivity, scaling, and emulsification. This new H2S scavenger technology is suitable for both surface and downhole injection. It will be demonstrated how removing H2S upstream in mixed production can save overall treatment cost.

Population Dynamics of Hybrid State during Adaptive Therapy in Cancer

Drug resistance emerges due to drug-induced phenotypic switching of drug-sensitive to drug-resistant subpopulations in cancer during therapy. Existing models indicate the competitive advantage of sensitive over resistant population to regulate tumor and reducing the treatment cost with increased time to progression of tumor ultimately benefiting the patient in a clinical setting. Here, we present a Lotka Volterra (LV) based population dynamics (PD) model of the drug-sensitive, drug-resistant, and transient drug-hybrid state along with phenotypic switching during adaptive therapy based on a simple cancer biomarker (CB) to decide the adaptive therapy dosage to regulate cancer. We identified that the strength of intra-competition along with phenotypic switching parameters is crucial to mediate the effectiveness of adaptive therapy and also investigated the significance of the initial fraction of subpopulations on AT. We hypothesize and predict the dynamics of drug-induced transient hybrid state playing a key role in the cancer cells undergoing metastasis.

Impact of SAFAR Air Quality Forecasting Framework and Advisory Services in Reducing the Economic Health Burden of India

The economic loss attributable to air pollution and associated disease burden is increasing in polluted megacities all over the globe; Indian megacities are no exception. India has launched the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) framework to provide air pollution health advisories well in advance through various outreach activities. We hereby estimate the economic benefit of SAFAR outreach attributed to prevention by intervention through an early warning based on a probabilistic scenario adopted in this work for the top two megacities of India, namely, Delhi and Pune, for the period 2011-2012 to 2019-2020 and 2014-2015 to 2019-2020 respectively. This study considers the cost-saving in pulmonary (Asthma, COPD, etc.) and other related diseases linked to air pollution. Results show that the annual average total cost of all diseases in Pune and Delhi is INR 9,480 million and INR 76,940 million respectively. We found that the total annual treatment cost of Allergic rhinitis OPD treatment cost was the highest (INR 14,490 Million) followed by asthma (INR 10,010 Million), and COPD (INR 5,140 Million) in Delhi during the year 2012. In Pune, annual treatment costs of Allergic Rhinitis, COPD and Asthma were INR 3,590, 890 and 710 Million respectively during the year 2015. SAFAR framework can make average annual savings of ≃INR 10,960 million in Delhi and ≃INR 1,000 million in Pune in the health sector, even if only 5% of the total affected sick population takes advantage of its services. Looking at the huge economic benefits, it is envisaged that the SAFAR framework model may be replicated in many more cities along with other mitigation measures rigorously.

Combining Coagulation and Electrocoagulation with UVA-LED Photo-Fenton to Improve the Efficiency and Reduce the Cost of Mature Landfill Leachate Treatment

This study focused on the reduction of the treatment cost of mature landfill leachate (LL) by enhancing the coagulation pre-treatment before a UVA-LED photo-Fenton process. A more efficient advanced coagulation pretreatment was designed by combining conventional coagulation (CC) and electro-coagulation (EC). Regardless of the order in which the two coagulations were applied, the combination achieved more than 73% color removal, 80% COD removal, and 27% SUVA removal. However, the coagulation order had a great influence on both final pH and total dissolved iron, which were key parameters for the UVA-LED photo-Fenton post-treatment. CC (pH = 5; 2 g L−1 of FeCl36H2O) followed by EC (pH = 5; 10 mA cm−2) resulted in a pH of 6.4 and 100 mg L−1 of dissolved iron, whereas EC (pH = 4; 10 mA cm−2) followed by CC (pH = 6; 1 g L−1 FeCl36H2O) led to a final pH of 3.4 and 210 mg L−1 dissolved iron. This last combination was therefore considered better for the posterior photo-Fenton treatment. Results at the best cost-efficient [H2O2]:COD ratio of 1.063 showed a high treatment efficiency, namely the removal of 99% of the color, 89% of the COD, and 60% of the SUVA. Conductivity was reduced by 17%, and biodegradability increased to BOD5:COD = 0.40. With this proposed treatment, a final COD of only 453 mg O2 L−1 was obtained at a treatment cost of EUR 3.42 kg COD−1.

Fostering Carbon Credits to Finance Wildfire Risk Reduction Forest Management in Mediterranean Landscapes

Despite the need for preserving the carbon pools in fire-prone southern European landscapes, emission reductions from wildfire risk mitigation are still poorly understood. In this study, we estimated expected carbon emissions and carbon credits from fuel management projects ongoing in Catalonia (Spain). The planning areas encompass about 1000 km2 and represent diverse fire regimes and Mediterranean forest ecosystems. We first modeled the burn probability assuming extreme weather conditions and historical fire ignition patterns. Stand-level wildfire exposure was then coupled with fuel consumption estimates to assess expected carbon emissions. Finally, we estimated treatment cost-efficiency and carbon credits for each fuel management plan. Landscape-scale average emissions ranged between 0.003 and 0.070 T CO2 year−1 ha−1. Fuel treatments in high emission hotspots attained reductions beyond 0.06 T CO2 year−1 per treated ha. Thus, implementing carbon credits could potentially finance up to 14% of the treatment implementation costs in high emission areas. We discuss how stand conditions, fire regimes, and treatment costs determine the treatment cost-efficiency and long-term carbon-sink capacity. Our work may serve as a preliminary step for developing a carbon-credit market and subsidizing wildfire risk management programs in low-revenue Mediterranean forest systems prone to extreme wildfires.

Variables affecting pricing of orphan drugs: the Italian case

Background and aim Evidence on determinants of prices for orphan medicines is scarce and not available for Italy. The aim of this paper is to provide an evidence on variables affecting the annual treatment cost of orphan drugs in Italy, testing the hypothesis of a negative correlation with the dimension of the target population and a positive correlation with the added therapeutic value of the drug and the quality of the evidence of pivotal studies. Methods Drugs with a European orphan designation reimbursed in Italy in the last 6 years (2014–2019) were considered. Univariate, cluster analysis and multiple regression models were used to investigate the correlation between the annual treatment cost and, as explanatory variables, the dimension of the target population, the existence of Randomized Clinical Trials as a proxy of the quality of the pivotal studies, the added therapeutic value. Results In the univariate analysis prevalence and added therapeutic value, as expected, have a negative and positive correlation with cost respectively. The correlation with RCT is not significant. In the multivariate model, coefficients for prevalence and added value are confirmed but for the latter are not significant anymore. We also found, through an interaction analysis, that the existence of an RCT has a positive impact on annual treatment cost when the target population is very small. Conclusions Our results suggest that value arguments and sustainability (dimension of the target population and its impact on budget impact) issues are considered for orphan drugs pricing: the role played by sustainability is systematically supported by our results. A more transparent and reproducible price negotiation process for orphan drugs is needed in Italy. This paper has contributed to highlight the implicit drivers of this process.

Experimental Investigation of the Effects of Helical Roof on the Performance of Stairmand High Efficiency Cyclone

Cost-effectiveness of a standard and a modified Stairmand high-efficiency type cyclone was compared at various inlet gas velocities. The modified design was obtained by replacing the roof of the standard design with a helical roof. Experiments were conducted by both standard and helical roof designs at the same operating conditions. Results showed that helical roof leads to reduced pressure drop in cyclones while having a negative impact on particle collection efficiency. Reductions in pressure drop can reach up to 30%, while particle collection efficiency is reduced by up to 8% simultaneously. Overall, the treatment cost of a cyclone separator can be reduced by 14.1–20.8%. Results indicated that helical roof design cyclones can be used to reduce overall treatment cost by cyclone separators.

Swing Operation Envelope of River-Sourced Water Treatment Facility for Water Injection Purpose in Banyu Urip Field

Banyu Urip reservoir management heavily rely on river-sourced water as water injection to meet Voidage Replacement Ratio target of 1. The treatment facility which consist of Raw Water Basin, Clarifiers, Multi Media Fine (MMF) Filters and Cartridge Filters, is sensitive to seasonal transition and river condition. This paper shares lesson learnt in operating such facility and troubleshooting guidance to overcome challenges of high turbidity during rainy season and lack of river water volume during drought season. To maintain the design intent of Banyu Urip (BU) water treatment facility in achieving water injection quality and quantity at reasonable cost, following activities were undertaken: [1] Critical water parameters data gathering & analysis across each unit; [2] Clarifier Chemical injection dosage verification based on laboratory test; [3] MMF Media coring inspection to assess the filtering media condition; [4] MMF Filters backwash parameters optimization; [5] MMF Filter on-off valve sequencing optimization to address water hammering issue; [6] Water injection rate management to deal with river water source availability along the year. Critical water parameters analysis revealed that chemical dosages were in-adequate to treat the five times higher turbidity coming into Clarifiers during early rain 2019. On top of this, low Raw Water Basin level at the end of long drought further contributed to jeopardize Clarifier's operation. Although in-adequate chemicals injection was resolved at early 2020, the treatment cost remained high, especially on filtration section. Media coring result on MMF Filters confirmed that the filtering media have been poisoned by carried-over mud from Clarifiers during upset. The operation of MMF Filters required extensive optimization on backwash parameters to successfully recover the MMF Filters performance without media replacement. Latest media coring on the worst MMF Filter showed that there was no more top mud layer and the amount of trapped mud had been decreased significantly. Cartridge Filter replacement interval was improved from 38 hours to 186 hours, therefore water treatment cost dropped with quite significant margin. Additionally, the availability of each MMF Filters was also improved. At the same time, the high water injection rate during 2020 rainy season, had successfully increased reservoir pressure buffer up to its maximum point as the anticipation of prolonged drought season. This paper provides the troubleshooting guidance for MMF Filter application in season-prone water treatment facility including insights on interpretation of media coring result and linking it back to optimization strategy on the MMF Filters drain down time for effective backwash process without having excessive media loss.