Simulation-based fault propagation analysis—Application on hydrogen production plant

Recently production of hydrogen from water through the Cu–Cl thermochemical cycle is developed as a new technology. The main advantages of this technology over existing ones are higher efficiency, lower costs, lower environmental impact and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Considering these advantages, the usage of this technology in new industries such as nuclear and oil is increasingly developed. Due to hazards involved in hydrogen production, design and implementation of hydrogen plants require provisions for safety, reliability and risk assessment. However, very little research is done from safety point of view. This paper introduces fault semantic network (FSN) as a novel method for fault diagnosis and fault propagation analysis by using evolutionary techniques like genetic programming (GP) and neural networks (NN), to uncover process variables’ interactions. The effectiveness, feasibility and robustness of the proposed method are demonstrated on simulated data obtained from the simulation of hydrogen production process in Aspen HYSYS^®. The proposed method has successfully achieved reasonable detection and prediction of non-linear interaction patterns among process variables.     

Major accident management in the process industry: An expert tool called CESMA for intelligent allocation of prevention investments

A tool (called CESMA) was developed to carry out cost–benefit analyses and cost-effectiveness analyses of prevention investments for avoiding major accidents. A wide variety of parameters necessary to calculate both the costs of the considered preventive measures and the benefits related with the avoidance of accidents were identified in the research. The benefits are determined by estimating the difference in (hypothetical) major accident costs without and with the implementation of a preventive measure. As many relevant costs and benefits as possible were included into the tool, based on literature and expert opinion, in order to be able to deliver an all-embracing cost–benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis to assist in the investment decision process. Because major accidents are related to extremely low frequencies, the tool takes the uncertainty of the unwanted occurrence of a major accident into account through the usage of a so-called ‘disproportion factor’. Compared with existing software, the CESMA tool is innovative by striving for an as-accurate-as-possible picture of costs and benefits of major accident prevention, and taking the uncertainties accompanying disastrous events into consideration. Furthermore, an illustrative example of CESMA is presented in the paper.     

A review on application of flocculants in wastewater treatment

Flocculation is an essential phenomenon in industrial wastewater treatment. Inorganic coagulants (salts of multivalent metals) are being commonly used due to its low cost and ease of use. However, their application is constrained with low flocculating efficiency and the presence of residue metal concentration in the treated water. Organic polymeric flocculants are widely used nowadays due to its remarkable ability to flocculate efficiently with low dosage. However, its application is associated with lack of biodegradability and dispersion of monomers residue in water that may represent a health hazard. Therefore, biopolymers based flocculants have been attracting wide interest of researchers because they have the advantages of biodegradability and environmental friendly. But, natural flocculants are needed in large dosage due to its moderate flocculating efficiency and shorter shelf life. Thus, in order to combine the best properties of both, synthetic polymers are grafted onto the backbone of natural polymers to obtain tailor-made grafted flocculants. This paper gives an overview of the development of different types of flocculants that were being investigated for treatment of industrial wastewater. Furthermore, their flocculation performance will be reviewed and the flocculation mechanism will be discussed.     

Limiting explosible concentration of hydrogen–oxygen–helium mixtures related to the practical operational case

This paper presents data on the limiting (minimum) concentrations of hydrogen in oxygen, in the presence of added helium, at elevated temperature and pressure related to the practical operational case. A 5 L explosion vessel, an ignition sub-system and a transient pressure measurement sub-system were used. Through a series of experiments carried out using this system, the limiting concentrations of hydrogen in oxygen and helium at different initial pressures and temperatures for the practical operational case were studied, and the influence of ignition energy and initial temperature on the limiting concentration of hydrogen in oxygen and helium was analyzed and discussed. The variation of ignition energy within the studied range is found to have a significant effect on the limiting concentration of hydrogen in oxygen and helium at lower initial temperature. However, when the ignition energy is higher than 32 mJ, the limiting hydrogen concentration remains almost changeless as the initial temperature increases from 21 °C to 90 °C. The limiting explosible concentration of hydrogen–oxygen–helium mixture decreases as the ignition energy increases when the initial temperature is lower. When the initial temperature is higher, the ignition energy has little effect on the limiting hydrogen concentration of hydrogen–oxygen–helium mixtures. When the initial temperature reaches 90 °C, the limiting hydrogen concentration remains almost changeless with an increase in ignition energy. The limiting explosible concentration of hydrogen in the mixtures, at the initial temperature of 21 °C and the ignition energy of 0.5 mJ, is 8.5% and that of oxygen is 11.25%.     

冬小麦生产力估算方法研究

本文在综述前人工作的基础上,对作物生产力的概念重新进行了阐述,提出作物生产力包括多层次的含义、各层次生产力代表不同的生产水平且限制因子不同,并对各层次生产力进行了定义。从大气-作物-土壤系统出发,探讨了冬小麦的生长发育及产量形成与各环境因子、能量投入之间的定量关系,采用动态模拟和统计分析相结合的方法,利用dBASEⅢ和BASIC语言,建立起了冬小麦生长发育及生产力形成的动态模拟软件,该软件可以根据不同需要对不同地区的冬小麦干物质累积、叶面积变化及土壤水分平衡进行计算,并可计算各层次的生产力。     

集雨种植下不同沟垄比对土壤呼吸的影响及其对水热因子的响应

为探明不同宽度沟垄集雨种植下土壤呼吸对土壤水热因子的响应机制,对比研究了沟垄比分别为20 cm∶40 cm(P40)、30 cm∶30 cm(P30)、40 cm∶20 cm(P20)的沟垄集雨种植和平作种植(CP)下冬小麦的土壤呼吸动态变化,及其与土壤温度和水分的关系.结果表明,4个处理的土壤呼吸速率在越冬期最低,返青期开始升高,扬花期前后达到峰值,之后逐渐降低.沟垄集雨处理土壤呼吸速率表现为P40P30P20,垄宽增加使呼吸速率提高1.2%~18.4%;苗期和越冬期,沟垄集雨种植提高了土壤呼吸速率,表现为P40P30P20CP,其中苗期3个沟垄集雨处理均显著高于CP(P0.05),越冬期P40处理显著高于CP;苗期和越冬期沟垄集雨种植提高了土壤温度,拔节期至成熟期CP土壤温度高于沟垄集雨处理;沟垄集雨种植能有效蓄水保墒,随着垄宽的增加集雨效果越好,苗期至拔节期降雨稀少,7.6 cm和12 cm土层土壤含水量均表现为P40P30P20CP.相关分析表明,土壤呼吸与温度的相关系数达极显著水平(P0.01),P40和P30的土壤呼吸与水分的相关系数小于P20和CP;水热双因子二次方程模型能解释呼吸变化的61.7%~74.1%,温度指数模型能解释50.3%~68.2%.本研究结果为沟垄集雨种植的生态效益评估提供理论依据.     

北京2009~2010年冬、春季PM2.5污染特征

针对北京地区冬季和春季PM_2.5污染特征进行研究.于2009年12月～2010年5月在城市点采集24h 大气颗粒物样品,进行颗粒物主要化学组分分析.冬季和春季颗粒物的平均质量浓度分别为（84.97±68.98）μg/m³和（65.25±45.76）μg/m³.冬季和春季颗粒物中二次组分（SNA+SOA）有重要贡献,二次组分分别占颗粒物质量浓度的49%和47%.冬春季重污染时期较强的源排放和低温、低风速、高相对湿度等不利的气象特征使得颗粒物中二次无机离子SNA（NH₄⁺、NO₃^-、SO₄^2-）的比重较干净天明显上升,其中硝酸盐贡献的增强最为显著.同时冬春季有机物中二次有机组分贡献显著.而受一次源的影响,冬春季重污染时期一次有机物的增强.     

Features of fatal injuries in older cyclists in vehicle–bicycle accidents in Japan

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify and better understand the features of fatal injuries in cyclists aged 75 years and over involved in collisions with either hood- or van-type vehicles.

Methods: This study investigated the fatal injuries of cyclists aged 75 years old and over by analyzing accident data. We focused on the body regions to which the fatal injury occurred using vehicle–bicycle accident data from the Institute for Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis (ITARDA) in Japan. Using data from 2009 to 2013, we examined the frequency of fatally injured body region by gender, age, and actual vehicle travel speed. We investigated any significant differences in distributions of fatal injuries by body region for cyclists aged 75 years and over using chi-square tests to compare with cyclists in other age groups. We also investigated the cause of fatal head injuries, such as impact with a road surface or vehicle.

Results: The results indicated that head injuries were the most common cause of fatalities among the study group. At low vehicle travel speeds for both hood- and van-type vehicles, fatalities were most likely to be the result of head impacts against the road surface.

The percentage of fatalities following hip injuries was significantly higher for cyclists aged 75 years and over than for those aged 65–74 or 13–59 in impacts with hood-type vehicles. It was also higher for women than men in the over-75 age group in impacts with these vehicles.

Conclusions: For cyclists aged 75 years and over, wearing a helmet may be helpful to prevent head injuries in vehicle-to-cyclist accidents. It may also be helpful to introduce some safety measures to prevent hip injuries, given the higher level of fatalities following hip injury among all cyclists aged 75 and over, particularly women.     

A conceptual approach to model sand–gravel extraction from rivers based on a game theory perspective

Sand–gravel mining is a significant parameter of economic development and social welfare function in modern societies. As demand for aggregate increases in construction industry, conflicts for the availability of the resource and environmental impacts become more intense. The present paper describes the contested status quo in riverbed sand–gravel mining activities with an example from Greece, as a case study. The scope is to propose a methodology about good governance of the mining sector that promotes a sustainable sharing of aggregate resource by securing environment and safekeeping revenues in the mining trade market.