Chalmers University of Technology

About: Chalmers University of Technology is a education organization based out in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Finite element method. The organization has 17191 authors who have published 53951 publications receiving 1520592 citations. The organization is also known as: Chalmers Tekniska Högskola & Chalmers.

Environmental and economic assessment of sewage sludge handling options.

Abstract: The environmental and economic consequences of four recycling and disposal options for municipal sewage sludge have been assessed. The four options were: agricultural application, co-incineration with waste, incineration combined with phosphorus recovery (Bio-Con) and fractionation including phosphorus recovery (Cambi-KREPRO). Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to assess the environmental consequences, while effects in the district heating system were analysed using the energy system model MARTES. Co-incineration had the best energy balance, but without recovery of phosphorus. In the Bio-Con and Cambi-KREPRO processes both phosphorus and energy could be recovered. Compared to Cambi-KREPRO, Bio-Con was more effective in most respects, but suffered from higher emissions to air. Spreading sludge on agricultural land was the least preferable option from an environmental point of view. Energy was required for transportation, spreading and pasteurisation of the sludge, whereas the other three options enabled energy recovery. Spreading also caused release of nutrients and acidifying substances and transferred the content of heavy metals in the sludge to agricultural soil. The economic assessment showed that agricultural application had the lowest cost of the options, whereas co-incineration had the highest cost. The difference in cost between Bio-Con and Cambi-KREPRO was small, but since the technologies are new and untried in a commercial context, these results are uncertain. This study has shown that two sludge handling options, incineration and direct application to agricultural soil, have respectively economic and environmental restrictions. The development of relatively low cost phosphorus recovery technologies has the potential to reconcile the environmental and economic aspects of sustainability.

A New Donor–Acceptor–Donor Polyfluorene Copolymer with Balanced Electron and Hole Mobility†

Abstract: A New Donor-Acceptor-Donor Polyfluorence Copolymer with Balanced Electron and Hole Mobility

The feasibility of low CO2 concentration targets and the role of bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS)

Abstract: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC 1992) calls for stabilization of atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. We use three global energy system models to investigate the technological and economic attainability of meeting CO2 concentration targets below current levels. Our scenario studies reveal that while energy portfolios from a broad range of energy technologies are needed to attain low concentrations, negative emission technologies-e.g., biomass energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS)-significantly enhances the possibility to meet low concentration targets (at around 350 ppm CO2).

An Artificial Neural Network Approach for Early Fault Detection of Gearbox Bearings

Abstract: Gearbox has proven to be a major contributor toward downtime in wind turbines. The majority of failures in the gearbox originate from the gearbox bearings. An early indication of possible wear and tear in the gearbox bearings may be used for effective predictive maintenance, thereby reducing the overall cost of maintenance. This paper introduces a self-evolving maintenance scheduler framework for maintenance management of wind turbines. Furthermore, an artificial neural network (ANN)-based condition monitoring approach using data from supervisory control and data acquisition system is proposed. The ANN-based condition monitoring approach is applied to gearbox bearings with real data from onshore wind turbines, rated 2 MW, and located in the south of Sweden. The results demonstrate that the proposed ANN-based condition monitoring approach is capable of indicating severe damage in the components being monitored in advance.

Neurochemical evidence of astrocytic and neuronal injury commonly found in COVID-19.

Abstract: OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has an impact on the CNS by measuring plasma biomarkers of CNS injury. METHODS: We recruited 47 patients with mild (n = 20), moderate (n = 9), or severe (n = 18) COVID-19 and measured 2 plasma biomarkers of CNS injury by single molecule array, neurofilament light chain protein (NfL; a marker of intra-axonal neuronal injury) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAp; a marker of astrocytic activation/injury), in samples collected at presentation and again in a subset after a mean of 11.4 days. Cross-sectional results were compared with results from 33 age-matched controls derived from an independent cohort. RESULTS: The patients with severe COVID-19 had higher plasma concentrations of GFAp (p = 0.001) and NfL (p < 0.001) than controls, while GFAp was also increased in patients with moderate disease (p = 0.03). In patients with severe disease, an early peak in plasma GFAp decreased on follow-up (p < 0.01), while NfL showed a sustained increase from first to last follow-up (p < 0.01), perhaps reflecting a sequence of early astrocytic response and more delayed axonal injury. CONCLUSION: We show neurochemical evidence of neuronal injury and glial activation in patients with moderate and severe COVID-19. Further studies are needed to clarify the frequency and nature of COVID-19-related CNS damage and its relation to both clinically defined CNS events such as hypoxic and ischemic events and mechanisms more closely linked to systemic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection and consequent immune activation, as well as to evaluate the clinical utility of monitoring plasma NfL and GFAp in the management of this group of patients.