Search

Summary Coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) has spread all across the world. Low‐ and medium‐income countries are more affected economically and socially compared to developed countries due to the lack of a rapid, robust, and affordable testing infrastructure. Furthermore, the high cost of real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) system, sophisticated user‐handling procedure, and high expense of the conventional clinical tests are the root causes of the less accessibility of the testing systems to the users. In this study, a COVID‐19 Point‐of‐Care (POC) ecosystem model is proposed for the low‐ and medium‐income countries (or energy deprived countries) that will facilitate the technological development with locally available fabrication components. In addition, the nontechnological development phases have also been discussed, which encompasses the collaboration among academia, local as well as government bodies, and entrepreneurial ventures. In addition, a hypothetical design of a microfluidic paper‐based analytical (μPADs) POC platform is proposed to detect COVID‐19 analyte using unprocessed patient‐derived saliva, which is a miniaturized form‐factor of conventional real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. The device contains four major reaction zones, which are sample zone, buffer zone, loop‐mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) Master Mix zone, Ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) zone, and sensor zone. To obtain quicker test results and easier operation, a handheld image acquisition technique is introduced in this study. It is hypothesized that in a remote setting, the proposed design could be used as an initial guideline to develop a POC COVID‐19 testing system, which may be simple, easy‐to‐use, and cost‐effective., A COVID‐19 Point‐of‐Care (POC) model is proposed that will facilitate the technological development with locally available fabrication components. To obtain quicker test results and easier operation, a handheld image acquisition technique is introduced. The proposed design could be used as an initial guideline to develop a POC COVID‐19 system, which may be simple, easy‐to‐use, and cost‐effective.

This paper analyses the economics of cogeneration potential in the pulp and paper industry of Vietnam. The analysis focuses on six large existing paper mills, their planned capacity expansion and nine planned new mills up to 2010. The analysis considered five alternative fuels (coal, diesel, fuel oil, natural gas and rice husk), three different technologies (steam turbines, gas turbines and reciprocating engines) and two modes of operation (thermal match and power match) of cogeneration. It also considered the case of sale of excess power to the grid. The analysis indicates that cogeneration is a viable option in the paper and pulp industry in Vietnam and the potential is about 200 MW. IRR in most of the cases ranges between 15 and 30% and the general payback period is between 3 and 5 years. Cogeneration remains a viable option even without sale of power to the grid and under different unfavourable conditions of fuel price, investment and other factors. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Different energy and exergy concepts and methods are presented and applied to a Swedish pulp and paper mill. Flow diagrams show that the exergy content is mostly much less than the energy content o ...

In the pulp and paper industry, energy costs represents a relatively large proportion of the value of production. When investing in new equipment, considerations concerning boundary conditions, suc ...

Previous studies by the authors have shown that energy savings in pulp and paper mills offer opportunities for increased electricity production on-site or wood fuel export. The energy export implies reductions in CO2 emissions off-site, where fossil fuel or fossil-fuel-based electricity is replaced. To assess this potential and the related profitability for a future situation, four energy market scenarios were used. For a typical Scandinavian mill, the potential for CO2-emission reductions was 15–140 kton year-1 depending on the scenario and the form of energy export. Extrapolated to all relevant mills in Sweden, the potential was 0.4–3.1 Mton year-1, which is in the order of percent of the Swedish CO2 emissions. Wood fuel export implies larger reduction in CO2 emissions in most scenarios. In contrast, electricity export showed better economy in most of the cases studied; with annual earnings of 5–6Mh, this is an economically robust option. In the market pulp mill investigated, the wood fuel export was in the form of lignin. Lignin could possibly be valued as oil, regarding both price and potential for CO2-emission reduction, making lignin separation an option with good profitability and large reductions of CO2 emissions.

SUMMARY The present study deals with a comprehensive thermodynamic modeling of a combined heat and power (CHP) system in a paper mill, which provides 50 MW of electric power and 100 ton h−1 saturated steam at 13 bars. This CHP plant is composed of air compressor, combustion chamber (CC), Air Preheater, Gas Turbine (GT) and a Heat Recovery Heat Exchanger. The design parameters of this cycle are compressor pressure ratio (rAC), compressor isentropic efficiency (ηAC), GT isentropic efficiency (ηGT), CC inlet temperature (T3), and turbine inlet temperature (T4). In the multi-objective optimization three objective functions, including CHP exergy efficiency, total cost rate of the system products, and CO2 emission of the whole plant, are considered. The exergoenvironmental objective function is minimized whereas power plant exergy efficiency is maximized using a Genetic algorithm. To have a good insight into this study, a sensitivity analysis of the results to the interest rate as well as fuel cost is performed. The results show that at the lower exergetic efficiency, in which the weight of exergoenvironmental objective is higher, the sensitivity of the optimal solutions to the fuel cost is much higher than the location of the Pareto Frontier with the lower weight of exergoenvironmental objective. In addition, with increasing exergy efficiency, the purchase cost of equipment in the plant is increased as the cost rate of the plant increases. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Drying is one of the most energy intensive and common operations in the chemical and process industries. Scope for energy recovery is substantial, particularly from the latent heat of the exhaust moist air. Using real operating data from a major Swedish mill, optimal energy conservation strategies were investigated using different heat pump systems in paper drying. Simulation results are compared for compressor-driven and absorption heat pump systems. An absorption heat transformer was also investigated. A CH3OH-LiBr double-lift cycle would have a low COP value due to the low temperature of the moist air stream and the restricted temperature of the cooling water available. A total of 30 MW thermal equivalent is currently needed in the mill at a temperature of 75 degrees C for mixing-pits, district heating and a log store. Exhaust humid air at a temperature of 54 degrees C from only three of the paper machines was used in this study. SHPUMP simulations revealed that installing a mechanical heat pump unit using HFC 134a would result in a recovery of 22 MW due to the temperature level of this application. On the other hand, 12 MW can be recovered with an absorption heat pump. To optimize the operating conditions, H2O-NaOH was selected as the best of three based on exergy index criteria. Assuming a steam cost of 22 $/MW h and an electricity cost of 32 $/MW h, the pay-off periods would be 3.3 and 2.9 years for compressor-driven and absorption heat pump alternatives, respectively. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (Less)

Regression analysis is used to detect and quantify the gross consequences for energy use of structural differences in the pulp and paper industries of the OECD countries. It is shown that changes in the specific energy use with time are explicable in terms of the concentration of production. Size and learning effects on paper making machines are detected and quantified.

Recent progress in nanoscience and technology offers huge opportunities for applications in the energy field and for the development of clean energy systems. Advanced materials based on nanoscience could lead to large energy savings in a whole range of end-use energy applications such as buildings or lighting systems. Major technology breakthroughs could be accomplished through nanotechnology in solar cells, fuel cells and hydrogen technology, energy storage, etc. International research in nanoscience finds increasingly new and novel directions into energy applications.