Pyrolysis and gasification-melting of automobile shredder residue.

Automobile shredder residue (ASR) from end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) in Korea has commonly been disposed of in landfills. Due to the growing number of scrapped cars and the decreasing availability of landfill space, effective technology for reducing ASR is needed. However ASR is a complex mixture, and finding an appropriate treatment is not easy on account of the harmful compounds in ASR. Therefore, research continues to seek an effective treatment technology. However most studies have thus far been performed in the laboratory, whereas few commercial and pilot studies have been performed. This paper studies the pyrolysis and gasification-melting of ASR. The pyrolyis characteristics have been analyzed in a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), a Lindberg furnace, and a fixed-bed pyrolyzer to study the fundamental characteristics of ASR thermal conversion. As a pilot study, shaft-type gasification-melting was performed. High-temperature gasification-melting was performed in a 5000 kg/day pilot system. The gas yield and syngas (H2 and CO) concentration increase when the reaction temperature increases. Gas with a high calorific value of more than 16,800 kJ/m3 was produced in the pyrolyzer. From the gasification-melting process, syngas of CO (30-40%) and H2(10-15%) was produced, with 5% CH4 produced as well. Slag generation was 17% of the initial ASR, with 5.8% metal content and 4% fly ash. The concentration of CO decreases, whereas the H2, CO2, and CH4 concentrations increase with an increase in the equivalence ratio (ER). The emission levels of dioxin and air pollution compounds except nitrogen oxides (NO(x)) were shown to satisfy Korean regulations.

A Study on the N2O Reduction Rate According to Temperature and Residence Time in the Exhaust Gas Atmosphere Emitted on Combustion of Air and Oxygen.

N2O is a hazardous greenhouse gas. It should be reduced to solve global warming problems. In this study, experiments of N2O thermal decomposition were conducted by simulating the exhaust gas atmosphere emitted during the combustion of air and pure oxygen in an actual circulating fluidized bed system and incinerator system. As a result of comparing the N2O reduction rate in N2 and CO2 atmospheres, the N2O reduction rate in the CO2 atmosphere was 20% higher than that in the N2 atmosphere. It is judged that the N2O reduction rate is high in a CO2 atmosphere (exhaust gas from pure oxygen combustion) due to complex factors such as the reverse reaction, the diffusion coefficient, and static pressure-specific heat. Therefore, pure oxygen combustion increases the reduction rate of nitrous oxide. In addition, when operated with an appropriate residence time and temperature, a reduction effect of more than 95% can be expected, and the fuel consumption rate is also expected to improve.

Current status of experimental therapeutics for prostate cancer.

Hormone refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) is the progression of disease in the presence of castrate serum levels of testosterone with a median survival of approximately 1 year. A variety of strategies have been developed to improve survival for the patients with advanced prostate cancer. Despite such efforts, the effective treatment modality for those patients has not been established other than chemotherapy. New experimental therapeutics such as gene therapy, vaccine therapy and target therapy use various mechanisms to kill tumor cells selectively while sparing surrounding normal tissues. Furthermore, new approaches in the field of chemoprevention are being made. Recent data from landmark studies, in particular vaccines, have shown improvements in overall survival of HRPC patients.

Characterization of calcium carbonate sorbent particle in furnace environment.

The oxy-fuel combustion system is a promising technology to control CO2 and NO(x) emissions. Furthermore, sulfation reaction mechanism under CO2-rich atmospheric condition in a furnace may lead to in-furnace desulfurization. In the present study, we evaluated characteristics of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) sorbent particles under different atmospheric conditions. To examine the physical/chemical characteristics of CaCO3, which is used as a sorbent particle for in-furnace desulfurization in the oxy-fuel combustion system, they were injected into high temperature drop tube furnace (DTF). Experiments were conducted at varying temperatures, residence times, and atmospheric conditions in a reactor. To evaluate the aerosolizing characteristics of the CaCO3 sorbent particle, changes in the size distribution and total particle concentration between the DTF inlet and outlet were measured. Structural changes (e.g., porosity, grain size, and morphology) of the calcined sorbent particles were estimated by BET/BJH, XRD, and SEM analyses. It was shown that sorbent particles rapidly calcined and sintered in the air atmosphere, whereas calcination was delayed in the CO2 atmosphere due to the higher CO2 partial pressure. Instead, the sintering effect was dominant in the CO2 atmosphere early in the reaction. Based on the SEM images, it was shown that the reactions of sorbent particles could be explained as a grain-subgrain structure model in both the air and CO2 atmospheres.