A mathematical approach for retrofit and optimization of total site steam distribution networks

This paper presents a generic mathematical model for retrofitting the steam power plants in an industrial site. The industrial sector under review consists of one steel mill, one oil refinery, and several petrochemical plants, where only small-scale steam integration has been implemented before this study. The relevant unit models in a typical steam power plant are established, and the steam plant retrofit problem is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP). Feasible retrofit alternatives suggested by experienced field engineers are investigated in sequence to examine the revenue of those possible modifications. The first scenario examines operational optimization of existent plants; the second option allows installation of one new turbine and replacement of several boilers and turbines with lower efficiency; the third scenario considers using a steam ejector to upgrade the disqualified import steam in the oil refinery. The significant merits from these three retrofit alternatives show that the proposed MINLP formulation has been a great help to enhance the inter-plant steam integration in an industrial sector.     

再生水补给型城市景观水体的水生生物群落特征—以圆明园为例

为了解圆明园水环境生态和生物多样性现状,掌握圆明园生态修复区长期恢复状况,于2017年对圆明园水系末端长春园开展水质、大型水生植物、蜻蜓目(Odonata)昆虫、鱼类(Piscium)和软甲动物(Malacostraca)的调查.结果表明:圆明园经过园区内水生生物群落的净化作用,水质基本达到地表Ⅲ类～Ⅳ类水体标准,属于...     

Tessaria absinthioides: a possible bio‐monitor for Cd,Pb, and Cu,in the middle and lower basin of the loa river,North Chile

Some ecotoxic metals such as Cd, Pb, and Cu in Tessaria absinthioides were quantified to study its possible use as a bio‐indicator and/or bio‐monitor of these metals. This plant was chosen for its abundance in the area under study, along Chile and even in southern Latin America. For Cd, Pb, and Cu in all three parts of the plant (leaves, stems and roots) a different concentration pattern in each sampling areas was observed. In sampling areas Coya Sur and La Cascada copper and cadmium concentration decrease in order: leaves > roots > stems. In samples collected in Xalquincha the lowest concentrations of Cd and Pb were observed in stems. A maximum of cadmium concentration (9ug/gd.w. in leaves) was found in samples from La Cascada, a inflow to river Loa in Calama. High concentrations of lead were found in roots and leaves. Collected data demonstrate that the main pathway for cadmium is from ground water via roots into the plant. Some data obtained for lead and copper indicate that the influence of dust particles adsorbed on leaves and stems can be higher than uptake from ground water.     

规划环评中景观非生态功能影响评价实例

以景观概念作为融合自然与社会、科学与美学、理性与感性的结合点,研究了景观非生态功能的内涵及其评价技术理论框架,从景观功能中提炼出景观非生态功能概念,初步完成景观非生态功能评价指标体系的构建.评价技术体系设计突出环境影响评价中现状评价的客观性以及影响预测的科学性.以人感尺度下的评价对象——景观单元概念为创新点,该评价体系补充并完善了现有景观评价体系的技术链条,在保证评价精度的前提下,简化并规范了评价工作流程.该评价体系沿用现有环境影响评价所广泛采用的现状评价、影响源分析、影响预测评价及措施建议的技术思路,基本能满足现行技术规范的要求.以武汉市后官湖生态宜居新城规划环评为例,验证了该体系的可操作性,为我国规划环评在景观评价技术领域的发展提供理论和实践参考.      

Techno-Economic Study of CO2 Capture from an Existing Cement Plant Using MEA Scrubbing

Carbon dioxide is the major greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. Man-made CO₂ emissions contribute approximately 63% of greenhouse gases and the cement industry is responsible for approximately 5% of CO₂ emissions emitting nearly 900 kg of CO₂ per 1000 kg of cement. CO₂ from a cement plant was captured and purified to 98% using the monoethanolamine (MEA) based absorption process. The capture cost was $51 per tonne of CO₂ captured, representing approximately 90% of total cost. Steam was the main operating cost representing 39% of the total capture cost. Switching from coal to natural gas reduces CO₂ emissions by about 18%. At normal load, about 36 MW of waste heat is available for recovery to satisfy the parasitic heat requirements of MEA process; however, it is very difficult to recover.     

Restorating marine coastal ecosystem health as a new goad for integrated catchment management in Tolo Harbour,Hong Kong,China

Abstract

The paper demonstrates why it is necessary to take the restoration of marine coastal ecosystem health as a new goal for integrated catchment management, in coastal area of the Tolo Harbour. The present goal of integrated catchment management (ICM) in the Tolo Harbour is to meet with Water Quality Objectives. The performance of an ICM plan, Tolo Harbour Action Plan (THAP), is evaluated by using marine coastal ecosystem health indicators including stress indicators and responses indicators. Since the implementation of THAP in 1988, some significant reduction in pollution loading has been observed—reduction of 83% of BOD load and 82% of TN between 1988 and 1999. There has been an improvement in the health state of Tolo Harbour marine coastal ecosystem as evidenced in the trends of the physical, chemical and biological indicators, although some reverse fluctuations in some periods exist. However, this can only be considered as the first sign of the ecosystem health restoration, since ecosystem health covers not only physical, chemical and biological aspects of an ecosystem, but also ecosystem-service-function aspect. It is recommended to take the restoration and protection of marine coastal ecosystem health as a new goal, instead of water quality objective management, for integrated catchment management in Tolo Harbour catchment. Steps to further improve the marine coastal ecosystem health of Tolo harbour are discussed in the paper.     

Developing Mechanism of Rubber-tea-chicken Agro-forestry Model in Tropical Area of China

Abstract

As a typical tropical agro-forestry ecosystem in Wenchang, Hainan Province, China, rational mechanisms of the rubber-tea-chicken eco-agricultural model were studied with the Solow technological level index, stability indicator, harmonizing coefficient, grey correlation coefficient and production dominance. This study focused on rational hierarchical structure, the limiting factors and optimal strategies of the model development based on model structure, resource conditions and external market demands. Results showed that rational mechanism of the rubber-tea-chicken ecosystem model mainly included technological contributions, leverage function of dominance component (livestock husbandry), stability of the model structure and harmony of its components, the model dominant product’s market demand and government’s supporting policies. The contributions of fund, technology, information and talent resources played an important role in improving sustainability and productivity of the agro-forestry model.     

中国城市绿化评价系统比较分析

城市绿化在城市环境建设中起着至关重要的作用。为衡量城市绿化建设的水平和指导城市规划,有必要建立科学的绿化评价体系。分析和比较了中国现有的4种国家级城市绿化评价体系：国家园林城市标准、全国绿化模范城市标准、国家森林城市标准和国家生态园林城市标准,并从易得性、可比性、简易性、客观性等4个方面对具体的指标进行了分析。4种绿化...     

The impact of the BP Baker report

Introduction

This study examined the impact of the British Petroleum (BP) Baker Panel Report, reviewing the March 2005 BP-Texas City explosion, on the field of process safety.

Method

Three hundred eighty-four subscribers of a process safety listserv responded to a survey two years after the BP Baker Report was published.

Results

Results revealed respondents in the field of process safety are familiar with the BP Baker Report, feel it is important to the future safety of chemical processing, and believe that the findings are generalizable to other plants beyond BP-Texas City. Respondents indicated that few organizations have administered the publicly available BP Process Safety Culture Survey. Our results also showed that perceptions of contractors varied depending on whether respondents were part of processing organizations (internal perspective) or government or consulting agencies (external perspective).

Conclusions

This research provides some insight into the beliefs of chemical processing personnel regarding the transportability and generalizability of lessons learned from one organization to another.

Impact on Industry

This study has implications for both organizational scientists and engineers in that it reveals perceptions about the primary mechanism used to share lessons learned within one industry about one major catastrophe (i.e., investigation reports). This study provides preliminary information about the perceived impact of a report such as this one.     

Migrating an incident reporting system to a CCPS process safety metrics model

A major chemical company established a formal incident investigation and reporting system several years ago. The original system focused heavily on worker-related injuries, illnesses, and near-misses and was used primarily to track statistics reportable to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). This Occupational Injury and Illness (OII) approach has been recognized to be an ineffective tool for measuring, predicting, and preventing process safety incidents. The Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS) recently published guidelines on how to establish safety metrics for the measurement and reduction of process safety incidents. The process safety metrics approach relies upon leading and lagging metrics to improve organization process safety. This paper is a case study of the analysis of one organization’s incident database, which represents approximately five years of data from over a dozen facilities. The aim of this investigation was to extract useful process safety metrics from the incident investigation and reporting system, which would be pertinent to the types of process units and process functions at these facilities. This paper will discuss the approach taken to extract process incident information from an OII-based database and present the difficulties of performing an analysis on such a database. This paper provides guidance on how to migrate an existing OII-based reporting system to a program that includes process safety metrics in accordance with industry best practices.