Environmental and economic assessment of structural repair technologies for spent lithium-ion battery cathode materials

The existing recycling and regeneration technologies have problems,such as poor regeneration effect and low added value of products for lithium(Li)-ion battery cathode materials with a low state of health.In this work,a targeted Li replenishment repair technology is proposed to improve the discharge-specific capacity and cycling stability of the repaired LiCoO_(2) cathode materials.Compared with the spent cathode material with>50%Li deficiency,the Li/Co molar ratio of the regenerated LiCoO_(2) cathode is>0.9,which completely removes the Co_(3)O_(4) impurity phase formed by the decomposition of LixCoO_(2) in the failed cathode material after repair.The repaired LiCoO_(2) cathode mater-ials exhibit better cycling stability,lower electrochemical impedance,and faster Li^(+)diffusion than the commercial materials at both 1 and 10 C.Meanwhile,Li_(1.05)CoO_(2) cathodes have higher Li replenishment efficiency and cycling stability.The energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions of LiCoO_(2) cathodes produced by this repair method are significantly reduced compared to those using pyrometallurgical and hydro-metallurgical recycling processes.

Treatment Patterns and Economic Assessment of Systemic Therapy for Metastatic Colorectal Cancer

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer and the third leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. The goal of this study was to understand treatment patterns, biomarker testing practices, treatment adherence, and the clinical and economic outcomes associated with chemotherapy for metastatic disease. Methods and Materials: We retrospectively examined electronic health records of patients with metastatic CRC who initiated chemotherapy between 01 January 2007 and 30 June 2011, with follow-up to 30 June 2012. Parameters analyzed included demographics and clinical characteristics, treatment patterns, clinical outcomes, and health care resource utilization. Results: In the analysis, 756 patients were included;median age was 61 years (55% male) at start of first line therapy. The most commonly used regimens in the first, second, and third line were FOLFOX + bevacizumab (46%), FOLFIRI + bevacizumab (23%), and irinotecan + cetuximab (23%) respectively. Adherence to guidelines decreased with increasing line of therapy. When assessed by treatment backbone categories in the third line, outcome measures including overall survival (OS), and time to treatment discontinuation (TTD) were not statistically different between groups. In the multivariable model, body mass index (BMI), performance status, and KRAS were significant predictors of survival. Conclusions: This study provides insight into patterns of care and outcomes of mCRC patients for the aforementioned time period. As treatment options for mCRC evolve, it is valuable to understand the continuum of care to help inform future treatment among candidates for continued therapy.

Environmental and economic assessment of vegetable oil production using membrane separation and vapor recompression

Solvent extraction of crude oil from oilseeds is widely applied for its high production capacity and low cost. In this process, solvent recovery and tail gas treatment are usually performed by adsorption, paraffin scrubbing, or even cryogenics （at low tail gas flow rates）. Membrane separation, which has a lower energy consumption than these techniques, spans a broad range of admissible concentrations and flow rates, and is moreover easily combined with other techniques. Vapor recompression has potentials to reduce the heat loss in association with distillation and evaporation. In this study, we proved the possibility of combining membrane separation and vapor recompression to improve the conventional vegetable oil production, by both experiments and process simulation. Nearly 73% of energy can be saved in the process of vegetable oil extraction by the novel processing approach. By further environmental assessment, several impact categories show that the optimized process is environmentally sustainable.

Techno-economic assessment of energy generation through municipal solid waste:a case study for small/medium size districts in Pakistan

There is an increase in annual waste generation due to urbanization,industrialization,and population growth.The waste management crisis in developing countries and its complexity from region to region has inspired extensive research work in this area.Poor management not only results in environmental hazards,but it also causes significant socio-economic losses.Due to the absence of comprehensive studies on waste to energy(WTE)assessment,this study assesses and reports the merits of alternative technologies for converting WTE in small and medium-size districts.Quantitative analysis for waste collection data in this study uses a pilot study approach to provide useful insights and waste classification.A cantonment district of Pakistan(Wah Cantt)has been used as a case study for performing a technological and economic assessment of energy generation through the use of thermal and biological treatment processes.A mathematical modeling approach has been adopted for generating an economic value of each technology through which this waste can be processed.Further,the levelized cost of energy(LCOE)based assessment has been performed to provide a methodological framework for selecting the most feasible WTE technology in a small or medium-size district.Based on the model results,anaerobic digestion appears to be the most sustainable technology due to the organic nature of waste in Wah Cantt,land legislation,and availability of area to install a waste plant.Considering all the waste collected,the district can generate approximately 14.4 MW of energy through thermal treatment,19,110 m^(3) of daily biogas through anaerobic digestion,and 5 million tons of fertilizer through composting.Hence,if a proper supply chain is established for converting a portion of Pakistan’s annual waste generation,a significant amount of waste energy potential can be restored.

An Assessment of Potential Economic Gain from Weather Forecast Based Irrigation Scheduling for Marginal Farmers in Karnataka, Southern State in India

This study is aimed to assess the usefulness of weather forecasts for irrigation scheduling in crops to economize water use. The short-term gains for the farmers come from reducing costs of irrigation with the help of advisory for when not to irrigate because rain is predicted (risk-free because the wrong forecast only delays irrigation within tolerance). Here, a quantitative assessment of saving (indirect income) if irrigation is avoided as rain is imminent (as per forecast), using a five-year archived forecast data over Karnataka state at hobli (a cluster of small villages) level is presented. Estimates showed that the economic benefits to the farmers from such advisories were significant. The potential gain in annual income from such forecast-based irrigation scheduling was of the order of 10% - 15%. Our analysis also indicated that the use of advisory by a small percentage of more than 10 million marginal farmers (landholding < 3 acres) in Karnataka could lead to huge cumulative savings of the order of many crores.

Optimization of Hydrocracking Process for Enhanced BTX Production from Coal Tar-Derived Hydrorefined Products

Hydroconversion of coal tar to produce aromatic hydrocarbons(BTX)represents a crucial strategy for the highvalue hierarchical utilization of coal.This study focused on the hydrocracking of hydrorefined products derived from coal tar to enhance the production of benzene,toluene,and xylene(BTX).Various reaction conditions,including reaction temperature,hydrogen pressure,space velocity,and hydrogen-to-oil volume ratio,were systematically explored to optimize BTX yields while also considering the process’s economic feasibility.The results indicate that increasing the reaction temperature from 360℃ to 390℃ significantly favors the production of BTX,with yields increasing from 21.42%to 41.14%.Similarly,an increase in hydrogen pressure from 4 MPa to 6 MPa boosts BTX production,with yields rising from 36.31%to 41.14%.Reducing the space velocity from 2 h^(-1) to 0.5 h^(-1) also favors the BTX production process,with yields increasing from 37.96%to 45.13%.Furthermore,raising the hydrogen-to-oil volume ratio from 750 to 1500 improves BTX yields from 41.61%to 45.44%.Through economic analysis,the optimal conditions for BTX production were identified as a reaction temperature of 390℃,hydrogen pressure of 5-6 MPa,space velocity of 1 h^(-1),and hydrogen-to-oil volume ratio of 1000,achieving a BTX yield of 43.73%.This investigation highlights the importance of a holistic evaluation of hydrocracking conditions to optimize BTX production.Furthermore,the findings offer valuable insights for the design and operation of industrial hydrocracking processes aimed at efficiently converting coal tar-derived hydrorefined feedstock into BTX.

Comprehensive Assessment of Regional Circular Economy Development Based on Efficiency of Resource & Environment: A Case Study of Jiangsu Province

In the first, the paper gave a retrospective analysis on the comprehensive assessment of circular economic development. According to the requirement of improving resource & environment efficiency, the paper designed an analytical framework for a comprehensive assessment of regional circular economic growth, which consists of the goal, object and technical line of the comprehensive assessment of regional circular economic development. Given that, the paper discussed the criterion for choosing the assessment index, the approaches of index's weighing determination, the means of data standardization, and the reference system of assessment index value and so on. According to the framework of regional circular economic development evaluation, die paper made a comprehensive evaluation of Jiangsu Province's circular economic development. The result shows that from temporal change, Jiangsu Province's circular economic development had different stages; from the spatial comparison, there is variance among different regions, which could be divided into different types according to the spatial variance and the relation between the development of circular economy and the aggregative index number. There was a remarkable correlation between circular economic development level and GDP or the 2nd industry GDP.Finally, the paper gives some suggestions on how to promote the development of circular economy in Jiangsu Province.

A Preliminary Exploration of the Functional Value Assessment of Ecosystem Services in Aral City

Using the principles and methods of eco-economics as the research object,Aral City comprehensively expounds the ecological service functions such as ecosystem regulation of climate,carbon sequestration,soil conservation,water conservation and purification environment,and evaluates its economic value.The total value of the estimated 2021 is 1303.65 million yuan.At the same time,the importance of ecological service functions of urban ecosystems,from large to small,is to sequester carbon and release oxygen,purify the environment,maintain soil,conserd water sources,regulate the climate.The ecosystem service function which needs to be paid attention to in the concept of ecological construction and restoration of the next stage of ecological construction in Aral City.

Economic Assessment of Planned Projects in Highway Network Planning

This paper presents a method of economic assessment for planned projects in the process of highway network planning. Economic assessment method is being done on the basis of cost benefit analysis, and the cost and benefit calculation methods are discussed respectively.

An Alternative to Flare Gas Processing:A Feasibility Study of Natural Gas to Liquid Processes

The quantities of gas released into the environment during the extraction and processing of crude oil,by flaring,constitute a vast source of mineral wealth which can be used to produce other useful products.The processes studied in this paper,as alternatives to the above problem,are the ones used in Shell Pearl Qatar project and Oryx GTL project.Both projects produce liquid fuels,mainly naphtha and diesel,in addition to more special fuel such as kerosene.This paper is a feasibility study of a project that makes use of the flare gas from the State of Texas,U.S.A.,as a feedstock to a process similar to either Shell Pearl Qatar project,or Oryx GTL project.The objective of this study is to determine the price range for crude oil over which an investment to similar projects can be profitable.An MS Excel Model was developed in order to perform calculations having as a variable the crude oil price and taking into account all the process and project’s financial data.The results of this model showed that a project similar to Shell Pearl Qatar remains profitable in crude oil price above$57.76/barrel,while a project similar to Oryx GTL remains viable for crude oil price over$31.4/bbl.In the price range$55-$60/barrel,the payout of the corresponding to Shell Pearl Qatar project will be in about 15.2 years and 3.3 years for a project similar to Oryx GTL.Finally,using the financial principles of this study we can apply them to any process in order to determine under what conditions will remain viable.

Risk Governance,Assessment,and Economic Impacts

Due to climate change,growing urbanization,and population migration the social and economic impacts of natural hazards have been increasing worldwide.The challenge for risk science,both methodologically and conceptually,is to integrate robust multi-hazard evaluation models with

Economic and Environmental Performance of Biowaste-to-energy Technologies for Small-scale Electricity Generation

Electricity is predicted to be the energy vector that will undergo major changes in the future,and a transition would be observed in the resources such as waste and residual biomass that we use to satisfy the energy demand.Therefore,this study aims to highlight the main economic and environmental performances of different biowaste-to-energy technologies for small-scale electricity generation by comparing the direct combustion of refined vegetable oil obtained from waste cooking oils(thermal pathway),anaerobic digestion of biowaste(biochemical pathway),and gasification of wood residues(thermochemical pathway).The economic analysis is mainly based on personal experiences in the energy sector and shows an overview of the performance in investment of combined heat and power(CHP)systems,ranging from 100 to 500 kW for a period of 20 years.The environmental assessment is conducted considering the life-cycle thinking approach using support from the openLCA software,product environmental footprint(PEF)database,and previous studies that have reported environmental inventory data from real industrial cases.

Economical evaluation of large-scale photovoltaic systems using Universal Generating Function techniques

Solar energy plays an important role in the global energy framework for future.Comparing with conventional generation systems using fossil fuels,the cost structure of photovoltaic(PV)systems is different:the capital cost is higher while the operation cost is negligible.Reliabilities of the PV system can also influence the cost for producing electricity.Investors,planners and regulators require deep insight into the return and cost of a PV project.A reliability based economical assessment of largescale PV systems has been conducted utilizing Universal Generating Function(UGF)techniques.The reliability models of solar panel arrays,PV inverters and energy production units(EPUs)are represented as the corresponding UGFs.The expected energy production models for different PV system configurations have also been developed.The expected unit cost of electricity has been calculated to provide informative metrics for making optimal decisions.The proposed method has been applied to determine the PV system configuration which provides electricity for a water purification process.

Estimating the Economic Effects of the Early Covid-19Emergency Response in Cities Using Intracity Travel Intensity Data

In the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic,China implemented the most stringent and serious emergency response.To understand the effect of such an emergency response strategy on the economic system,this study proposed a simultaneous overall estimation method using intracity travel intensity data.The overall effect is represented by the difference between intracity travel intensity with and without the emergency response.Using historical data and time series analysis,we compared intracity travel intensity post China’s implementation of the emergency response with predicted intracity travel intensity without such a response.The loss rates,defined by the proportion of intracity travel intensity loss,were calculated for 360 cities within 33 provincial-level regions in China based on data availability.We found that 30 days after the emergency response,21% of the cities saw over 80% recovery and 10% of the cities showed more than 90% recovery;45 days after the emergency response,more than 83% of the 360 cities witnessed 80% recovery.The correlation between gross domestic production loss rate and travel intensity loss rate was studied quantitatively to demonstrate the representativeness of the intracity travel intensity loss rate.This indicator was also used to analyze the spatial and temporal patterns of the effects on the economy.The results of this study can help us understand the economic effects caused by the early Covid-19 emergency response and the method can be a reference for fast and real-time economic loss estimation to support emergency response decision making under pandemic conditions.

Using Climate Factors to Estimate Flood Economic Loss Risk

Estimation of economic loss is essential for stakeholders to manage flood risk.Most flooding events are closely related to extreme precipitation,which is influenced by large-scale climate factors.Considering the lagged influence of climate factors,we developed a flood-risk assessment framework and used Hunan Province in China as an example to illustrate the risk assessment process.The main patterns of precipitation—as a connection between climate factors and flood economic losses—were extracted by the empirical orthogonal function(EOF)analysis.We identified the correlative climate factors through crosscorrelation analysis and established a multiple stepwise linear regression model to forecast future precipitation patterns.Risk assessment was done based on the main precipitation patterns.Because the economic dataset is limited,a Monte Carlo simulation was applied to simulate 1000-year flood loss events under each precipitation regime(rainy,dry,normal years)to obtain aggregate exceedance probability(AEP)and occurrence exceedance probability(OEP)curves.We found that precipitation has a strong influence on economic loss risk,with the highest risk in rainy years.Regional economic development imbalances are the potential reason for the varying economic loss risks in different regions of Hunan Province.As the climate indices with at least several months prediction lead time are strong indicators in predicting precipitation,the framework we developed can estimate economic loss risk several months in advance.