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New lagonomegopid spiders are described from Mid-Cretaceous Myanmar (Burmese) amber. Two new genera and species based on single specimens, Scopomegops fax gen. & sp. nov. and Hiatomegops spinalis gen. & sp. nov. are described. Two specimens belonging to Lineaburmops beigeli are further described. Additionally, after re-examining the holotype of Odontomegops titan, a detailed description of its basal ventral abdomen is added here. A phylogenetic analysis was performed to investigate the phylogenetic placement of Lagonomegopidae. A matrix of 79 morphological characters, scored for six lagonomegopid taxa and 26 non-lagonomegopid taxa, was analysed through parsimony and Bayesian phylogenetic inference. Our results recover extant Palpimanoidea as a monophyletic group and partly suggest that Lagonomegopidae is the sister-group to extant Palpimanoidea. The external sexual organs, retrolateral tibial apophysis on the male palp and tracheal spiracle in lagonomegopids are discussed.

Maternal care benefits the survival and fitness of offspring, often at a cost to the mother's future reproduction, and has evolved repeatedly throughout the animal kingdom. In extant spider species, this behaviour is very common and has different levels and diverse forms. However, evidence of maternal care in fossil spiders is quite rare. In this study, we describe four Mid-Cretaceous (approx. 99 Ma) amber specimens from northern Myanmar with an adult female, part of an egg sac and some spiderlings of the extinct family Lagonomegopidae preserved, which suggest that adult lagonomegopid females probably built and then guarded egg sacs in their retreats or nests, and the hatched spiderlings may have stayed together with their mother for some time. The new fossils represent early evidence of maternal care in fossil spiders, and enhance our understanding of the evolution of this behaviour.

Two new Bisetocreagris species belonging to the family Neobisiidae are described from China: Bisetocreagris yangae sp. n. from Anhui Province and Bisetocreagris parva sp. n. from Zhejiang Province. Detailed diagnoses, descriptions and illustrations of the two new species are presented.

Two Microcreagris species belonging to the family Neobisiidae are described from China: Microcreagris gigas Balzan, 1892 from Fanjing Mountain in Guizhou Province, and Microcreagris xikangensis sp. nov. from the Xikang-Tibet Plateau in Sichuan Province. Detailed diagnosis, descriptions and illustrations of the two species are presented.

Two new Stenohya species belonging to the family Neobisiidae are described from China: Stenohya hainanensis sp. n. from Hainan Island, and Stenohya setulosa sp. n. from the high mountains of Xizang (Tibet). Detailed diagnosis, descriptions and illustrations of the two new species are presented.

Fifteen alternative process designs for the production of synthetic gasoline from coal, biomass, or coal + biomass via gasification, methanol synthesis, and methanol-to-gasoline synthesis are analyzed, including some that produce a substantial electricity co-product and some that employ CO2 capture, with CO2 stored in deep saline formations or via injection for enhanced oil recovery. This paper reports process mass/energy balance simulation results and fuel-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions comparisons. A companion paper addresses economic and strategic issues. Key findings of the performance analysis include the following: (i) For two plants designed with the same liquid fuel output, but with one co-producing electricity, the additional feedstock needed for co-production is converted to electricity more efficiently than if that feedstock were used in a stand-alone power plant. (ii) Plants using only coal as feedstock have fuel-cycle GHG emissions greater than the conventional fossil fuels their produc...

The detailed performance simulation results for 15 alternative process designs for the production of synthetic gasoline from coal, biomass, or coal + biomass via gasification, methanol synthesis, and methanol-to-gasoline synthesis presented in the companion paper provide the basis for capital and operating cost estimates and the economic and strategic analysis described in this paper. Economic analyses for the 15 process designs are carried out for different assumed crude oil and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions prices; for the cases involving CO2 capture the economic analysis is carried out for storage both in deep saline formations and via CO2 injection for enhanced oil recovery (EOR). In the absence of any GHG emission price, large plants that use only coal and produce primarily liquids provide the highest internal rate of return on equity (IRRE) for 20-year levelized crude oil prices of $80/bbl to $106/bbl. At the latter crude oil price, modest-scale co-production systems with low or zero GHG emissions ...

Technology selection for refining the lighter fractions of syncrude produced by low-temperature Fischer–Tropsch (LTFT) synthesis into high octane motor-gasoline with no decrease in distillate production has been investigated. It was found that an upgrading scheme based on Pt/L-zeolite reforming, non-hydrogen aromatization and olefin oligomerization can produce high quality motor gasoline which can meet current gasoline specifications (Euro-4). A second scheme, which we call “full aromatization”, is also evaluated on the basis of liquid yield and octane number. The full aromatization process appears to be the least complex refining scheme that provides a sufficiently high octane number, but the gasoline produced from this process may require additives to meet current motor gasoline specifications.

Major challenges posed by crude-oil-derived transportation fuels are high current and prospective oil prices, insecurity of liquid fuel supplies, and climate change risks from the accumulation of fossil fuel CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. One option for addressing these challenges simultaneously involves producing ultraclean synthetic fuels from coal and lignocellulosic biomass with CO2 capture and storage. Detailed process simulations, lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions analyses, and cost analyses carried out in a comprehensive analytical framework are presented for 16 alternative system configurations that involve gasification-based coproduction of Fischer−Tropsch liquid (FTL) fuels and electricity from coal and/or biomass, with and without capture and storage of byproduct CO2. Systematic comparisons are made to cellulosic ethanol as an alternative low GHG-emitting liquid fuel and to alternative options for decarbonizing stand-alone fossil-fuel power plants. The analysis indicates tha...