Analysis of Gayo wine-coffee processing facility development

The Indonesian plantation sector plays an important role in the overall national economy. The development of coffee processing methods into a variety of products, including the relatively new product Gayo wine coffee, will provide added value for farmers. However, the main question that is often asked about relatively new ventures is how viable they are. Thus, a techno-economic analysis of Gayo wine-coffee processing facility development was aimed to answer how viable is the business to ensure sustainability. The results of this research are expected to add scientific information regarding the feasibility study of developing a sustainable Gayo wine-coffee processing facility. The research was conducted in Aceh Tengah District by conducting a comparative study to a micro-scale wine coffee producer in the location, the Syukran Kopi Wine processing facility. Analysis of the facility development was more focused on the technological and financial aspects. The research results considered that Aceh Tengah District is very suitable as a location for a wine coffee factory to minimize the purchasing costs. Moreover, the process of wine coffee production is more difficult than the process of common coffee production. However, the Gayo wine-coffee processing facility uses semi-modern technology like the common coffee processing facility. Besides, all financial indicators meet the financial feasibility criteria for five years economic life of the project. Sensitivity analysis also shows that in both scenarios, all financial indicators still meet the financial feasibility criteria, although decreasing the benefit make a higher impact on most values of the investment criteria than increasing the operational cost.

The Potential for Hydrolysed Sheep Wool as a Sustainable Source of Fertiliser for Irish Agriculture

Suppressed wool prices in Ireland over the last number of years has led to situations where the cost of shearing animals is greater than the wools’ value, leading to net losses per animal for farmers. Populations of sheep in Ireland and nutrient values of wool from literature sources were used to determine the quantity of nutrients that could be produced on an annual basis using hydrolysis techniques. Results of this study suggest that up to 15.8% of the nitrogen required to produce Ireland’s cereal crops can be met annually using hydrolysed sheep wool in an economically feasible manner along with considerable amounts of sulphur, zinc, and copper. Most of the cost associated with the process is the purchasing of wool from farmers at an economically favourable level for farmers. Based on the spatial distribution of these animals, the town of Athlone is the most suitable location for a processing facility.

Innovative Reverse Engineering Approach in Design and Construction of New Gas Processing Facility in Brown Field Block Through Optimum Utilization of Excess Materials and Idle Equipment to Improve Capital Stewardship and Inventory Management. Case Study: Field X Associated Gas Recovery Project

Successful project management boils down to effectively and efficiently managing resources to meet the project's cost and schedule. The ability to manage project effectively becomes increasingly important to recover capital project expenditures in expiring Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) blocks. The longer the time needed for a project to complete, the higher the project capital and the lower the capital recovery. Referring to look back result of several major capital facility projects, the key challenge in meeting the project cost and schedule is related to procurement of long lead materials and key process equipment. In brown field blocks, there is an opportunity to perform reverse engineering by optimally utilizing the excess materials in the warehouse and idle/unused process equipment to solve the key challenges. As additional benefit, utilization of excess materials and idle process equipment will improve inventory management and capital stewardship, since the cost to relocate and modify the equipment are significantly lower than the cost of buying a new equipment. Field X Associated Gas Recovery Project (AGRP) provided an excellent case study of successful reverse engineering approach using excess material and idle equipment in design and construction of a new gas processing facility in brown field block. Field X AGRP is designed to recover and process associated gas from X field to be used as fuel gas for the gas turbines at the internal Power Generation Plant. However, based on lesson learned from similar opportunity in the past, the cost of construction and installation of a new gas processing facility using new construction materials and new process equipment is very high, which is uneconomic at the current oil price environment. Therefore, to make the project economic, the project team shall consider the utilization of available excess material in the warehouse and idle/unused equipment into design basis. Project team conducted assessment to several facilities across the concession area to gather equipment specification data of idle process equipment and the size of available excess materials. The gas processing facility design was reverse engineered to optimally utilize the idle process equipment and excess materials. The utilization of idle equipment and excess material in construction of the gas processing facility has successfully generated cost saving up to 5 times the project cost from avoiding purchase of new equipment and new construction materials. The project successfully recovered associated gas at the rate of 0.5 MMSCFD to be used as fuel to gas turbine and produced 60 BOPD condensate from gas-liquid separation process

IMT-1 A translational research for practical use of dendritic cell-based immunotherapy against malignant glioma

Background: Although a therapeutic effect of dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapy, a kind of regenerative medicine, has been recognized in various types of cancer including malignant glioma, it is still impractical because of several unsolved problems. This study is aimed to solve the problems in regenerative medicine through a clinical trial of immunotherapy using fusions of DCs and glioma cells (GCs) against malignant glioma, and to put it into practical use. Methods: Primary cultured GCs and glioma stem cells (GSCs) were generated from surgical specimens of patient. DCs were generated from PBMC of same patient, and were fused with GCs and GSCs. The entire process of cell production must be performed by pairs of two cell-culture operators in a dedicated cell processing facility. We developed a remote cell-observation system for reducing hands work of operators. As a project to establish a preservation method, cryopreservation of glioma tissues, GCs/GSCs, DCs and fusion cells followed by their viability examination. Results: The remote cell-observation system worked stable in morphological observation and cell-counting for adhesion cells. A growth curve was also automatically and accurately created. Although a morphological observation of floating cells such as GSCs and DCs was possible, there was some error in counting of those cells. A project to establish a preservation method is currently underway, including the development of storage containers and storage liquids. Conclusions: Although the remote cell-observation system required some modifications at the observation site, depth of focus, etc. for floating cells, there was no problem in accuracy for adhesion cells compared with operator’s observation. This system, which can be easily installed at low cost, seemed to be helpful for practical use of regenerative medical products including this therapy. We are working on a project to establish a stable transportation and preservation method for prevalence of this treatment.

Long-term immunity alterations in the employees of the high hydrogen sulfide content gas condensate processing facility

The current measures for protection of the gas processing plant employees cannot fully prevent the impact of pollutants. Evaluation of the immune system is one of the methods for monitoring of the employees' health, and testing the system of measures used to improve the working conditions. The study was aimed to identify alterations in the immune status of the employees at the gas processing and high hydrogen sulfide content condensate processing facility depending on their working experience. The working environment and the employees' immune system were evaluated by standard methods. Pollutants were detected with the Bruel & Kjaer 1302 Multi-Gas Monitor, and the Tsvet-550 gas chromatographer. A total of 160 employees and 81 controls (blood donors of the regional blood transfusion station) were surveyed. The immune system was evaluated using the System 9000 Plus hematological analyser, Cyto FLEX LX flow cytometer, UNICO 2100UV specrophotometer, and KFK-3-03-ZОМЗ photometer. It was concluded that the existing complex of occupational and industrial hazards affects the immune status of the main production unit employees, which is reflected in the decreased CD20 levels and increased CD8 levels along with the constant levels of CD4. Correlations were revealed between the immuniglobuline level alterations, decrease in the phagocytic index and phagocytic number, as well in lysozyme activity, and the working experience. Pollutant exposure results in altered immunity of the employees, which could be considered the adaptation mechanism.