Effect of oxygenated liquid additives on the urea based SNCR process.

An experimental investigation was performed to study the effect of oxygenated liquid additives, H(2)O(2), C(2)H(5)OH, C(2)H(4)(OH)(2) and C(3)H(5)(OH)(3) on NO(x) removal from flue gases by the selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) process using urea as a reducing agent. Experiments were performed with a 150kW pilot scale reactor in which a simulated flue gas was generated by the combustion of methane operating with 6% excess oxygen in flue gases. The desired levels of initial NO(x) (500ppm) were achieved by doping the fuel gas with ammonia. Experiments were performed throughout the temperature range of interest, i.e. from 800 to 1200 degrees C for the investigation of the effects of the process additives on the performance of aqueous urea DeNO(x). With H(2)O(2) addition a downward shift of 150 degrees C in the peak reduction temperature from 1130 to 980 degrees C was observed during the experimentation, however, the peak reduction efficiency was reduced from 81 to 63% when no additive was used. The gradual addition of C(2)H(5)OH up to a molar ratio of 2.0 further impairs the peak NO(x) reduction efficiency by reducing it to 50% but this is accompanied by a downward shift of 180 degrees C in the peak reduction temperature. Further exploration using C(2)H(4)(OH)(2) suggested that a 50% reduction could be attained for all the temperatures higher than 940 degrees C. The use of C(3)H(5)(OH)(3) as a secondary additive has a significant effect on the peak reduction efficiency that decreased to 40% the reductions were achievable at a much lower temperature of 800 degrees C showing a downward shift of 330 degrees C.

Experimental and modeling study of the effect of CO and H2 on the urea DeNO(x) process in a 150kW laboratory reactor.

An experimental and modeling investigation has been performed to study the effect of process additives, H2 and CO on NO(x) removal from flue gases by a selective non-catalytic reduction process using urea as a reducing agent. Experiments were performed with a flow reactor in which flue gas was generated by the combustion of propane in air at 3% excess oxygen and the desired levels of initial NO(x) (500ppm) were achieved by doping the flame with ammonia. Experiments were performed throughout the temperature range of interest, i.e. from 850 to 1200 degrees C for investigation of the effects of the process additives on the performance of aqueous urea DeNO(x). Subsequently, computational kinetic modeling with SENKIN code was performed to analyze the performance of urea providing a direct comparison of modeling prediction with experimental measurements. With CO addition, a downwards shift of 215 degrees C in the peak reduction temperature from 1125 to 910 degrees C was observed during the experimentation while the kinetic modeling suggests it to be 150 degrees C, i.e. from 1020 to 870 degrees C. The addition of H2 impairs the peak NO(x) reduction but suggests a low temperature application of the process. A downward shift of 250 degrees C in the peak reduction temperature, from 1020 to 770 degrees C, was observed during kinetic modeling studies. The kinetic modeling shows a good qualitative agreement with the experimental observations and reveals additional information about the process.

Assessment of micro-scale anaerobic digestion for management of urban organic waste: A case study in London, UK.

This paper describes the analysis of an AD plant that is novel in that it is located in an urban environment, built on a micro-scale, fed on food and catering waste, and operates as a purposeful system. The plant was built in 2013 and continues to operate to date, processing urban food waste and generating biogas for use in a community café. The plant was monitored for a period of 319days during 2014, during which the operational parameters, biological stability and energy requirements of the plant were assessed. The plant processed 4574kg of food waste during this time, producing 1008m3 of biogas at average 60.6% methane. The results showed that the plant was capable of stable operation despite large fluctuations in the rate and type of feed. Another innovative aspect of the plant was that it was equipped with a pre-digester tank and automated feeding, which reduced the effect of feedstock variations on the digestion process. Towards the end of the testing period, a rise in the concentration of volatile fatty acids and ammonia was detected in the digestate, indicating biological instability, and this was successfully remedied by adding trace elements. The energy balance and coefficient of performance (COP) of the system were calculated, which concluded that the system used 49% less heat energy by being housed in a greenhouse, achieved a net positive energy balance and potential COP of 3.16 and 5.55 based on electrical and heat energy, respectively. Greenhouse gas emissions analysis concluded that the most important contribution of the plant to the mitigation of greenhouse gases was the avoidance of on-site fossil fuel use, followed by the diversion of food waste from landfill and that the plant could result in carbon reduction of 2.95kg CO2eq kWh-1 electricity production or 0.741kg CO2eq kg-1 waste treated.

Investigation of SO2, HCl and NOx, control from waste incinerators using a novel additive in a pilot scale reactor.

A pilot scale experimental investigation of the use of a novel additive, calcium magnesium acetate, for the simultaneous control of SO2, HCl and NOx has been carried out. The pilot scale reactor simulated the furnace and flue gas conditions of a typical large scale waste incinerator and was a vertical 4m high reactor operated at 80 kW. The calcium magnesium acetate was added as a wet spray to the reactor at temperatures above 750 degrees C. The influence of the calcium magnesium acetate dose rate was investigated on the simultaneous removal of SO2, HCl and NOx. Maximum reductions were achieved at a Ca/S ratio (or Ca/Cl ratio) of 2.5 and were, 70% for SO2, 45% for HCl and 18% for NOx for each of the pollutant gases respectively.

Modelling the anaerobic digestion of solid organic waste - Substrate characterisation method for ADM1 using a combined biochemical and kinetic parameter estimation approach.

This work proposes a novel and rigorous substrate characterisation methodology to be used with ADM1 to simulate the anaerobic digestion of solid organic waste. The proposed method uses data from both direct substrate analysis and the methane production from laboratory scale anaerobic digestion experiments and involves assessment of four substrate fractionation models. The models partition the organic matter into a mixture of particulate and soluble fractions with the decision on the most suitable model being made on quality of fit between experimental and simulated data and the uncertainty of the calibrated parameters. The method was tested using samples of domestic green and food waste and using experimental data from both short batch tests and longer semi-continuous trials. The results showed that in general an increased fractionation model complexity led to better fit but with increased uncertainty. When using batch test data the most suitable model for green waste included one particulate and one soluble fraction, whereas for food waste two particulate fractions were needed. With richer semi-continuous datasets, the parameter estimation resulted in less uncertainty therefore allowing the description of the substrate with a more complex model. The resulting substrate characterisations and fractionation models obtained from batch test data, for both waste samples, were used to validate the method using semi-continuous experimental data and showed good prediction of methane production, biogas composition, total and volatile solids, ammonia and alkalinity.

Kinetics of acetaminophen absorption and gastric emptying in man.

Eight healthy male volunteers ingested an aqueous solution containing acetaminophen (20 mg/kg) and a nonabsorbable isotopic marker. The concentrations of unconjugated acetaminophen in samples of blood plasma taken at frequent intervals were measured by gas-liquid chromatography. The data points followed a smooth curve in most cases and were fitted to the classical two-compartment pharmacokinetic model to obtain KA, the apparent first-order rate constant for absorption from the gastrointestinal tract. Gastric emptying was measured simultaneously from serial scintiscans of the subject's abdomen. The subjects were also studied after intramuscular injection of meperidine (150 mg) and pentazocine (60 mg) with and without naloxone (1.2 mg). The acetaminophen absorption curves and gastric emptying patterns were consistent with negligible absorption from the stomach. A new model is proposed in which the conventional single compartment used to represent the gastrointestinal tract is replaced by two compartments: one represents the stomach and the other the small intestine, from which absorption occurs rapidly. Pharmacokinetic analysis using this model showed good agreement in all cases, and provided an estimate of KA, the first-order rate constant for drug transfer from the intestinal lumen into the systemic circulation. The mean half-time for transfer was 6.8 +/- 0.9 min. As expected, KA was greater than KG (the first-order rate constant for gastric emptying), showing that gastric emptying was rate-limiting in the absorption of acetaminophen. The value of KA was greater than KA and the two were not related. The value of KA was not equal to KG in most studies because gastric emptying was not a single exponential process.

Drugs, diseases and altered gastric emptying.

Drugs are usually given orally. They are not absorbed to any extent from the stomach but may be absorbed very rapidly from the small intestine. Thus factors influencing the rate of gastric emptying may alter the rate of absorption of most if not all orally administered drugs. Food, hormones, posture, peritoneal irritation, severe pain, gastric ulcer, diabetes and other metabolic diseases, as well as drugs such as alcohol, anticholinergics, narcotic analgesics, ganglion blocking drugs, antacids and metoclopramide all influence the rate of gastric emptying and they will, in turn, change the rate of absorption of another drug. In most instances, increasing the rate of gastric emptying and gastro-intestinal motility increases the rate of absorption of a drug but, for digoxin and riboflavin, increased gastrointestinal motility is associated with a decrease in the rate of absorption. Delayed drug absorption due to altered gastric emptying usually results in therapeutic failure, especially if the drug has a short biological half-life. At present it is not possible to predict accurately the magnitude and clinical relevance of all drug absorption interactions.

Temafloxacin does not potentiate the anticoagulant effect of warfarin in healthy subjects.

The potential for drug interaction between temafloxacin, a new fluorinated quinolone antibiotic, and low-intensity warfarin was studied in 10 healthy male volunteers. Warfarin was administered orally at titrated dosages to maintain the International Normalised Ratio between 1.3 and 1.7, and was kept constant during the last 4 days of the 16-day trial, when temafloxacin 600mg twice daily was coadministered. Prothrombin times during temafloxacin and warfarin administration were similar to those during warfarin alone. Thus, temafloxacin did not potentiate the anticoagulant effect of warfarin 1.5 to 5.5mg daily in healthy volunteers.

New intravenous anaesthetics and neuromuscular blocking drugs. A review of their properties and clinical use.

The newer neuromuscular blocking drugs include vecuronium and atracurium. Vecuronium is a competitive neuromuscular blocking drug with a steroid nucleus. A dose of 0.1 mg/kg has an onset time of 2 minutes and provides surgical paralysis for 20 minutes. Recovery to 90% twitch height occurs in 40 to 50 minutes. Vecuronium has few adverse effects and its use is associated with cardiovascular stability. Atracurium is a competitive neuromuscular blocking drug which undergoes Hofmann degradation and ester hydrolysis in plasma. A dose of 0.6 mg/kg has an onset time of around 2 minutes and provides surgical paralysis for 20 to 30 minutes. Recovery to 90% twitch height occurs in 60 to 80 minutes. Histamine release, usually only localised, has been reported in association with the use of atracurium. The organ-independent metabolism of atracurium allows its use in standard dosage in patients with renal or hepatic disease. Edrophonium, although not a new drug, has recently been re-evaluated for reversal of neuromuscular blockade. In a dose of 0.5 mg/kg it has been shown to be as effective as neostigmine at reversing neuromuscular blockade after recovery has started (greater than 25% twitch height recovery). However, if blockade is profound (less than 10% recovery), edrophonium is less effective. Among the newer intravenous anaesthetics are propofol (disoprofol) and midazolam. In a dose of 1.5 to 2.5 mg/kg, propofol produces sleep rapidly with a prompt recovery in 4 to 6 minutes. Induction of anaesthesia may be associated with a transient apnoea and a fall in systolic pressure. The rapid recovery has led to its use for maintenance of anaesthesia. Midazolam is a water-soluble benzodiazepine which has been used as an anaesthetic agent. The dose needed to induce sleep varies widely (0.15 to 0.5 mg/kg); onset is slow (1.5 to 5 minutes), and recovery may be prolonged. Midazolam is also used in lower doses as a sedative. Ketamine, an intravenous induction agent, has recently been used intrathecally and extradurally to provide analgesia.

Novel delivery systems: electrotransport.

Electrotransport involves the transport of ionized drugs across the skin under the influence of an electric current. This method of delivery has been used for many years to deliver drugs locally to the skin or the mouth, but now it is being studied as a means of delivering drugs for their systemic effects. Opioid analgesics may be administered via this route.

Bioavailability, pharmacokinetics, and analgesic activity of ketamine in humans.

The pharmacokinetics of ketamine in analgesic doses after intravenous, intramuscular, and oral administration was investigated in healthy volunteers. Plasma ketamine concentration-time curves were fitted by a two-compartment open model with a terminal half-life of 186 min. Absorption after intramuscular injection was rapid and the bioavailability was 93%. However, only 17% of an oral dose was absorbed because of extensive first-pass metabolism. Simultaneous measurements of the elevation of pain threshold in an ischemic exercise test showed a marked effect for 15-60 min after intramuscular injection, but little or no effect after the oral solution. Pain threshold elevation occurred at plasma ketamine concentrations above 160 ng/ml.

The measurement of gastric emptying during labour.

The author describes how the rate of paracetamol absorption may be used as an indirect measure of gastric emptying rate in clinical situations such as during labour or post-partum, when direct measurement would be impracticable.

Shea meal and cotton stalk as potential fuels for co-combustion with coal.

The efficient management of waste biomass is an important environmental problem in agricultural countries. Often land-fill is the main disposal route with ramifications including CH(4) release having 21 times greater global warming potential per molecule than CO(2). Biomasses are considered to be CO(2)-neutral fuels when combusted. Moreover, they are renewable and covered by the renewable obligation scheme and eligible for certificates in the UK. The overall objective of the investigation is to assess the performance of selected biomass and coal co-firing under two different modes of operation, air-staging and fuel-staging with the benefit of reduced-NO(x) and SO(2) emissions in power plant. The biomasses chosen for the study, shea meal (SM) and cotton stalk (CS) have very different cellulose/lignin compositions and different reported thermal behaviour. A series of experiments have been carried out in a 20 kW, down fired combustor using coal, shea meal-coal and cotton stalk-coal blends under un-staged, air-staged and fuel-staged co-combustion configurations. For air-staging, an optimum value of primary zone stoichiometry SR(1)=0.9 was found. Keeping it fixed, the shea meal and cotton stalk content in the coal-biomass blends was set to 5%, 10% and 15% on thermal basis. NO reductions of 51% and 60% were achieved using SM and CS, respectively, with an optimum thermal biomass blending ratio (BBR) of 10%. The results obtained were compared with un-staged and air-staged results for coal without the addition of biomass. Similarly for fuel-staging, keeping the length of the reburn and burnout zone fixed, SM and CS were evaluated as reductive fuel using different reburn fuel fractions (R(ff)) of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%. NO reductions of 83% and 84% were obtained with an optimum R(ff) of 15% with an optimum reburn zone stoichiometry of SR(2)=0.8 for both SM and CS, respectively. SO(2) reduction and char burnout efficiency were also evaluated. It was found that addition of biomass coupled with air and fuel-staging techniques reduced-NO(x) and SO(2) simultaneously while at the same time improving the char burnout efficiency.

Thermal analysis and devolatilization kinetics of cotton stalk, sugar cane bagasse and shea meal under nitrogen and air atmospheres.

Thermal degradation, reactivity and kinetics for biomass materials cotton stalk (CS), sugarcane bagasse 1 (SB1), sugarcane bagasse 2 (SB2) and shea meal (SM) have been evaluated under pyrolysis (N(2)) and oxidising (dry air) conditions, using a non-isothermal thermogravimetric method (TGA). In the cases of CS and SB1 the peak temperatures were 51 degrees C higher for pyrolysis compared with oxidative degradation, whereas for SB2 and SM the difference was approximately 38 degrees C. However, the differences in the rates of weight loss were significantly higher under oxidising conditions for all the materials studied. Maximum rate of weight loss (%s(-1)) under pyrolysis conditions ranged from 0.10 to 0.18 whereas these values accelerated to the range of 0.19-0.28 under oxidising conditions, corresponding to respective peak temperatures. Samples ranked in order of reactivity (R(M)x10(3)) (%s(-1) degrees C(-1)) are CS=1.31 approximately SM=1.30>SB2=1.14>SB1=0.94 for air and CS=0.54>SB2=0.49>SB1=0.45>SM=0.31 for nitrogen. Shea meal exhibited a complex char combustion behaviour indicating that there may be two distinct types of char derived from fibrous and woody components in the original material. Activation energy calculations were based on the Arrhenius correlation.

Aspiration of gastric contents.

Inhalation of gastric contents remains an important cause of anaesthetic death. Recent data describe the acid aspiration syndrome (AAS) as the cause of 25% of maternal deaths associated with anaesthesia and 19% of all deaths totally attributable to anaesthesia (DHSS, 1982; Lunn and Mushin, 1982).

Do patients fasting before and after operation receive their prescribed drug treatment?

Periods of fasting perioperatively make normal drug treatment difficult to maintain. One hundred and seventy patients admitted consecutively for operations (excluding those having cardiac, neurosurgical, and orthopaedic operations) were studied to identify whether they received their prescribed drugs. Seventy two were receiving drugs unrelated to their operation or anaesthesia. One thousand seven hundred and forty six single prescriptions (that is, single doses) were recorded as to be given on the day of surgery and the next day, of which 256 (15%) were not administered. All prescriptions of analgesics and premedicants were given; when these were excluded the proportion of prescriptions that were not given rose to 29%. The prescriptions omitted included 38 out of 95 for drugs for cardiovascular disease, 34 out of 103 for drugs for respiratory disease, and 10 out of 61 for drugs for endocrine disorders. The omission of drugs was not known to the medical staff and may introduce variability in the response of patients perioperatively.

Effect of cisapride on morphine-induced delay in gastric emptying.

Forty patients were allocated randomly to receive one of four premedications i.m.: placebo only, morphine 10 mg plus placebo, morphine 10 mg plus cisapride 10 mg and morphine 10 mg plus cisapride 4 mg. Gastric emptying after each premedication was assessed using the oral paracetamol absorption model. The morphine only group and the morphine and cisapride 4 mg group showed delayed gastric emptying when compared with the placebo group. Delay in gastric emptying in the morphine and cisapride 10 mg group was not demonstrated. It is concluded that cisapride 10 mg prevents the delay in gastric emptying associated with the administration of morphine.

Measurement of FEV1 and FVC. Comparison of a pocket spirometer with the Vitalograph.

The performance of a pocket spirometer was compared with that of the Vitalograph to assess the extent of agreement between the instruments and the repeatability of measurements with each instrument. Both instruments showed a similar level of accuracy when measurements were repeated and in the estimation of forced vital capacity, but there was a mean difference of 201 ml in measurements of forced expiratory volume in one second, for which the Vitalograph gave the larger reading.