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There is concern that mercury (Hg) in coal combustion by-products might be emitted into the environment during processing to other products or after the disposal/landfill of these by-products. This perception may limit the opportunities to use coal combustion by-products in recycle/reuse applications and may result in additional, costly disposal regulations. In this program, CONSOL conducted a comprehensive sampling and analytical program to include ash, flue gas desulfurization (FGD) sludge, and coal combustion by-products. This work is necessary to help identify potential problems and solutions important to energy production from fossil fuels. The program objective was to evaluate the potential for mercury emissions by leaching or volatilization, to determine if mercury enters the water surrounding an active FGD disposal site and an active fly ash slurry impoundment site, and to provide data that will allow a scientific assessment of the issue. Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test results showed that mercury did not leach from coal, bottom ash, fly ash, spray dryer/fabric filter ash or forced oxidation gypsum (FOG) in amounts leading to concentrations greater than the detection limit of the TCLP method (1.0 ng/mL). Mercury was detected at very low concentrations in acidic leachates from all of the fixated and more than half of the unfixated FGD sludge samples, and one of the synthetic aggregate samples. Mercury was not detected in leachates from any sample when deionized water (DI water) was the leaching solution. Mercury did not leach from electrostatic precipitator (ESP) fly ash samples collected during activated carbon injection for mercury control in amounts greater than the detection limit of the TCLP method (1.0 ng/mL). Volatilization tests could not detect mercury loss from fly ash, spray dryer/fabric filter ash, unfixated FGD sludge, or forced oxidation gypsum; the mercury concentration of these samples all increased, possibly due to absorption from ambient surroundings. Mercury loss of 18-26% was detected after 3 and 6 months at 100 F and 140 F from samples of the fixated FGD sludge. Water samples were collected from existing ground water monitoring wells around an active FGD disposal site (8 wells) and an active fly ash slurry impoundment (14 wells). These were wells that the plants have installed to comply with ground water monitoring requirements of their permits. Mercury was not detected in any of the water samples collected from monitoring wells at either site. A literature review concluded that coal combustion byproducts can be disposed of in properly designed landfills that minimize the potentially negative impacts of water intrusion that carries dissolved organic matter (DOM). Dissolved organic matter and sulfate-reducing bacteria can promote the transformation of elemental or oxidized mercury into methyl mercury. The landfill should be properly designed and capped with clays or similar materials to minimize the wet-dry cycles that promote the release of methylmercury.

A CO/sub 2/ laser (approx.0.5 kJ energy, 70 nsec pulse width) was focussed onto the end of an axially oriented, thick (35 to 350 .mu.) carbon fiber with or without a magnetic field present along the laser-fiber axis. We present evidence for axial-to-transverse enhancement of the CVI 182A (n = 3 .-->. 2) transition, which is correlated with the appearance of a population inversion between levels n = 3 and 2. For the B = 0 kG, zero field case, the maximum gain-length product of kl approx. =3 (k approx. =6 cm/sup -1/) was measured for a carbon fiber coated with a thin layer of aluminum (for additional radiation cooling). The results are interpreted in terms of fast recombination due mostly to thermal conduction from the plasma to the cold fiber core.

This article is an editorial on the research topic Microbial C1 Metabolism and Biotechnology. This special topic presents studies focused on the fundamental aspects of C1 metabolism in diverse microbial systems with the ability to convert anthropogenic greenhouse gases into valuable products.

By means of the saturation shake-flask technique, the saturation solubility data of 3,3′-diaminodiphenyl sulfone in 14 monosolvents (n-propanol, N,N-dimethylformamide, methanol, ethanol, ethylene g...

Abstract Urban renewal has become a key issue all through China's Transitional Period. The social, economic, political factors, and their correlations have been seriously considered. However, the effects of outdoor pedestrian thermal comfort and fluid ventilation effects as well as the residence living conditions in old city districts under urban reconstruction should, to some extent, be paid closer attention to. As an example, take an old city district in Wuhan where a comprehensive mathematical model describing the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics has been presented. Considering the influences of ambient crosswind, solar radiation, and natural convection and radiation heat transfer, numerical analysis based on the original layout has been executed. By analyzing the temperature and velocity distributions of the old city district, a new planned layout has been presented in this research. By comparison, some basic rules have been advanced to achieve favorable thermal comfort and flow ventilation effects.

This paper describes the economically optimal adoption and operation of distributed energy resources (DER) by a hypothetical California microgrid (μGrid) consisting of a group of commercial buildings over an historical test year, 1999. The optimization is conducted using a customer adoption model developed at Berkeley Lab and implemented in the General Algebraic Modeling System. A μGrid is a semiautonomous grouping of electricity and heat loads interconnected with the existing utility grid (macrogrid) but able to island from it. The μGrid minimizes the cost of meeting its energy requirements (consisting of both electricity and heat loads) by optimizing the installation and operation of DER technologies while purchasing residual energy from the local combined natural gas and electricity utility. The available DER technologies are small-scale generators (<500 kW), such as reciprocating engines, microturbines, and fuel cells, with or without combined heat and power (CHP) equipment, such as water and space heating and/or absorption cooling. By introducing a tax on carbon emissions, it is shown that if the μGrid is allowed to install CHP-enabled DER technologies, its carbon emissions are mitigated more than without CHP, demonstrating the potential benefits of small-scale CHP technology for climate change mitigation. Reciprocating engines with heat recovery and/or absorption cooling tend to be attractive technologies for the mild southern California climate, but the carbon mitigation tends to be modest compared to purchasing utility electricity because of the predominance of relatively clean central station generation in California.

A group of 40 hvb coals, mostly from western Kentucky fields, has been examined with regard to ASTM Gieseler plastometric properties. Twenty-nine of these coals have also been studied over a range of temperatures by isothermal Gieseler plastometry. Raw Gieseler data provide melting and coking slopes and readily calculable fluidity spans. Maximum fluidity by slope intersection is a more consistent measure than observed maximum fluidity. Isothermal slopes and maximum fluidities follow Arrhenius temperature dependencies, with activation energies related systematically to fluid properties. These freshly sampled coals are also characterized by chemical, physical and petrographic criteria, by quantitative solvent extractions, by pyrolysis gas chromatography, by Fourier Transform infrared analysis of coals and extraction residues, by the HPLC analysis of coal extracts, and by optical microscopy of coals and Gieseler semi-coke residues. Multiple linear regression analysis yields three-term expressions which estimate maximum fluidities (both ASTM and isothermal) with R values of .90 to .92. Slopes and critical temperatures are similarly predictable. Plastometer experiments with selected coals under superatmospheric pressures show both melting slopes and maximum fluidities to be sharply increased, the latter by one to three orders of magnitude. Some suggestions are offered to accommodate this new information into the general body of knowledge concerning the phenomenon of plasticity in mid-ranked coals. 81 references, 28 figures, 40 tables.