以环境约束促进钢铁行业的产业升级

基于长三角地区钢铁行业发展案例研究,本文小结了该地区钢铁行业产业升级的路径依赖,阐述了环境约束对产业升级的促进作用,提出了提升环境生产力推动经济发展绿色转型的理念。     

浙江省污染密集产业的地区分布与发展趋势研究

基于2012年重点环境整治行业数据及2001-2011年浙江省行业统计数据,明确污染密集产业的定义,考察最典型的四类污染密集企业在各市区的分布情况,进一步分析污染密集产业产值与污染排放变化趋势。研究发现,浙江皮革鞣制和铅蓄电池产业有明显的产业集聚特点,皮革鞣制企业近一半设在温州,铅蓄电池企业超过一半在湖州,涉重金属矿企业有原材料产地指向性,电镀产业主要分布在温州;2008年之后,污染密集产业在浙江的比重不降反升,重点行业污染物排放有大幅增长趋势。     

Biomass for Fuel Cells: A Technical and Economic Assessment

Fuel cells can be highly efficient energy conversion devices. However, the environmental benefit of utilising fuel cells for energy conversion is completely dependent on the source of the fuel. Hydrogen is the ideal fuel for fuel cells but the current most economical methods of producing hydrogen also result in the production of significant amounts of carbon dioxide. Utilising biomass to produce the fuel for fuel cell systems offers an option that is technically feasible, potentially economically attractive and greenhouse gas neutral. High-temperature fuel cells that are able to operate with carbon monoxide in the feed are well suited to these applications. Furthermore, because they do not require noble metal catalysts, the cost of high-temperature fuel cells has the greatest potential to become competitive in the near future compared to other types of fuel cells. It is, however, extremely difficult to assess the economic feasibility of biomass-fuelled fuel cell systems because of a lack of published cost information and uncertainty in the predicted cost per kW of the various types of fuel cells for large volume production methods. From the scant information available it appears that the current cost for fuel-cell systems operating on anaerobic digester gas is about US$2,500 per kW compared to a target price of US$1,200 required to compete with conventional technologies.     

Techno-economic analysis and environmental impact assessment of energy recovery from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in Brazil

Due to the lack of appropriate policies in the last decades, 60% of Brazilian cities still dump their waste in non-regulated landfills (the remaining ones dump their trash in regulated landfills), which represent a serious environmental and social problem. The key objective of this study is to compare, from a techno-economic and environmental point of view, different alternatives to the energy recovery from the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated in Brazilian cities. The environmental analysis was carried out using current data collected in Betim, a 450,000 inhabitants city that currently produces 200 tonnes of MSW/day. Four scenarios were designed, whose environmental behaviour were studied applying the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, in accordance with the ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards. The results show the landfill systems as the worst waste management option and that a significant environmental savings is achieved when a wasted energy recovery is done. The best option, which presented the best performance based on considered indicators, is the direct combustion of waste as fuel for electricity generation. The study also includes a techno-economical evaluation of the options, using a developed computer simulation tool. The economic indicators of an MSW energy recovery project were calculated. The selected methodology allows to calculate the energy content of the MSW and the CH₄ generated by the landfill, the costs and incomes associated with the energy recovery, the sales of electricity and carbon credits from the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The studies were based on urban centres of 100,000, 500,000 and 1,000,000 inhabitants, using the MSW characteristics of the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte. Two alternatives to recovering waste energy were analyzed: a landfill that used landfill biogas to generate electricity through generator modules and a Waste-to-Energy (WtE) facility also with electricity generation. The results show that power generation projects using landfill biogas in Brazil strongly depend on the existence of a market for emissions reduction credits. The WtE plant projects, due to its high installation, Operation and Maintenance (O&M) costs, are highly dependent on MSW treatment fees. And they still rely on an increase of three times the city taxes to become attractive.