The role of metal ions in selective and sustainable processes

Sustainability and recycling are core values in today’s industrial operations. New materials, products and processes need to be designed in such a way as to consume fewer of the diminishing resources we have available and to put as little strain on the environment as possible. An integral part of this is cleaning and recycling. New processes are to be designed to improve the efficiency in this aspect. Wastewater, including municipal wastewaters, is treated in several steps including chemical and mechanical cleaning of waters. Well-cleaned water can be recycled and reused. Clean water for everyone is one of the greatest challenges we are facing today. Ferric sulphate, made by oxidation from ferrous sulphate, is used in water purification. The oxidation of ferrous sulphate, FeSO4, to ferric sulphate in acidic aqueous solutions of H2SO4 over finely dispersed active carbon particles was studied in a vigorously stirred batch reactor. Molecular oxygen was used as the oxidation agent and several catalysts were screened: active carbon, active carbon impregnated with Pt, Rh, Pd and Ru. Both active carbon and noble metal-active carbon catalysts enhanced the oxidation rate considerably. The order of the noble metals according to the effect was: Pt >> Rh > Pd, Ru. By the use of catalysts, the production capacities of existing oxidation units can be considerably increased. Good coagulants have a high charge on a long polymer chain effectively capturing dirty particles of the opposite charge. Analysis of the reaction product indicated that it is possible to obtain polymeric iron-based products with good coagulation properties. Systematic kinetic experiments were carried out at the temperature and pressure ranges of 60B100°C and 4B10 bar, respectively. The results revealed that both non-catalytic and catalytic oxidation of Fe2+ to Fe3+ take place simultaneously. The experimental data were fitted to rate equations, which were based on a plausible reaction mechanism: adsorption of dissolved oxygen on active carbon, electron transfer from Fe2+ ions to adsorbed oxygen and formation of surface hydroxyls. A comparison of the Fe2+ concentrations predicted by the kinetic model with the experimentally observed concentrations indicated that the mechanistic rate equations were able to describe the intrinsic oxidation kinetics of Fe2+ over active carbon and active carbon-noble metal catalysts. Engineering aspects were closely considered and effort was directed to utilizing existing equipment in the production of the new coagulant. Ferrous sulphate can be catalytically oxidized to produce a novel long-chained polymeric iron-based flocculent in an easy and affordable way in existing facilities. The results can be used for modelling the reactors and for scale-up. Ferric iron (Fe3+) was successfully applied for the dissolution of sphalerite. Sphalerite contains indium, gallium and germanium, among others, and the application can promote their recovery. The understanding of the reduction process of ferric to ferrous iron can be used to develop further the understanding of the dissolution mechanisms and oxidation of ferrous sulphate. Indium, gallium and germanium face an ever-increasing demand in the electronics industry, among others. The supply is, however, very limited. The fact that most part of the material is obtained through secondary production means that real production quota depends on the primary material production. This also sets the pricing. The primary production material is in most cases zinc and aluminium. Recycling of scrap material and the utilization of industrial waste, containing indium, gallium and geranium, is a necessity without real options. As a part of this study plausible methods for the recovery of indium, gallium and germanium have been studied. The results were encouraging and provided information about the precipitation of these valuables from highly acidic solutions. Indium and gallium were separated from acidic sulphuric acid solutions by precipitation with basic sulphates such as alunite or they were precipitated as basic sulphates of their own as galliunite and indiunite. Germanium may precipitate as a basic sulphate of a mixed composition. The precipitation is rapid and the selectivity is good. When the solutions contain both indium and gallium then the results show that gallium should be separated before indium to achieve a better selectivity. Germanium was separated from highly acidic sulphuric acid solutions containing other metals as well by precipitating with tannic acid. This is a highly selective method. According to the study other commonly found metals in the solution do not affect germanium precipitation. The reduction of ferric iron to ferrous, the precipitation of indium, gallium and germanium, and the dissolution of the raw materials are strongly depending on temperature and pH. The temperature and pH effect were studied and which contributed to the understanding and design of the different process steps. Increased temperature and reduced pH improve the reduction rate. Finally, the gained understanding in the studied areas can be employed to develop better industrial processes not only on a large scale but also increasingly on a smaller scale. The small amounts of indium, gallium and germanium may favour smaller and more locally bound recovery.

Reengineering and modelling of a product certification process

Työn teoriaosuudessa tutkittiin prosessien uudelleen suunnittelua, prosessien mallintamista sekä prosessimittariston rakentamista. Työn tavoitteena oli uudelleen suunnitella organisaation sertifiointiprosessi. Tämän tavoitteen saavuttamiseksi piti mallintaa nykyinen ja uusi prosessi sekä rakentaa mittaristo, joka antaisi organisaatiolle arvokasta tietoa siitä, kuinka tehokkaasti uusi prosessi toimii. Työ suoritettiin osallistuvana toimintatutkimuksena. Diplomityön tekijä oli toiminut kohdeorganisaatiossa työntekijänä jo useita vuosia ja pystyi näinollen hyödyntämään omaa tietämystään sekä nykyisen prosessin mallintamisessa, että uuden prosessin suunnittelussa. Työn tuloksena syntyi uusi sertifiointiprosessi, joka on karsitumpi ja tehokkaampi kuin edeltäjänsä. Uusi mittaristojärjestelmä rakennettiin, jota organisaation johto kykenisi seuraamaan prosessin sidosryhmien tehokkuutta sekä tuotteiden laadun kehitystä. Sivutuotteena organisaatio sai käyttöönsä yksityiskohtaiset prosessikuvaukset, joita voidaan hyödyntää koulutusmateriaalina uutta henkilöstöä rekrytoitaessa sekä informatiivisena työkaluna esiteltäessä prosessia virallisille sertifiointitahoille.

Product Assurance in Agile Space Systems Development

Product assurance is an essential part of product development process if developers want to ensure that final product is safe and reliable. Product assurance can be supported withrisk management and with different failure analysis methods. Product assurance is emphasized in system development process of mission critical systems. The product assurance process in systems of this kind requires extra attention. Inthis thesis, mission critical systems are space systems and the product assurance processof these systems is presented with help of space standards. The product assurance process can be supported with agile development because agile emphasizes transparency of the process and fast response to changes. Even if the development process of space systems is highly standardized and reminds waterfall model, it is still possible to adapt agile development in space systems development. This thesisaims to support the product assurance process of space systems with agile developmentso that the final product would be as safe and reliable as possible. The main purpose of this thesis is to examine how well product assurance is performed in Finnish space organizations and how product assurance tasks and activities can besupported with agile development. The research part of this thesis is performed in survey form.

Product assurance in agile space systems development

Product assurance is an essential part of product development process if developers want to ensure that final product is safe and reliable. Product assurance can be supported with risk management and with different failure analysis methods. Product assurance is emphasized in system development process of mission critical systems. The product assurance process in systems of this kind requires extra attention. In this thesis, mission critical systems are space systems and the product assurance process of these systems is presented with help of space standards. The product assurance process can be supported with agile development because agile emphasizes transparency of the process and fast response to changes. Even if the development process of space systems is highly standardized and reminds waterfall model, it is still possible to adapt agile development in space systems development. This thesis aims to support the product assurance process of space systems with agile development so that the final product would be as safe and reliable as possible. The main purpose of this thesis is to examine how well product assurance is performed in Finnish space organizations and how product assurance tasks and activities can be supported with agile development. The research part of this thesis is performed in survey form.

Lean Product Management – Enhancing Product Managers' Ability to Create Value

The purpose of this master’s thesis was to study the opportunity to apply Lean practices to product management function which happens in an office environment. Since product management plays an important role in the company’s success story, it’s important to have it functioning as effectively as possible. The goal was to find those Lean tools and methods that fit the best to the needs of product management. The research was conducted as a qualitative action research which comprises a comprehensive literature review and a single case study. Theoretical information about Lean Thinking and product management was collected from articles, literature and Internet sources. Moreover, empirical data was collected by conducting interviews in the Case Company’s product management department in order to gain an in-depth understanding of product management’s problematics. The results indicate that most of the product management challenges could be overcome by applying Lean practises. Based on the usability rate, which has been discussed in the empirical part of this study, the most suitable Lean practises for product management function are: value stream mapping, Kanban and KPIs.

Alternative electron transfer routes involved in photoprotection of cyanobacteria

In oxygenic photosynthesis, the highly oxidizing reactions of water splitting produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) and other radicals that could damage the photosynthetic apparatus and affect cell viability. Under particular environmental conditions, more electrons are produced in water oxidation than can be harmlessly used by photochemical processes for the reduction of metabolic electron sinks. In these circumstances, the excess of electrons can be delivered, for instance, to O2, resulting in the production of ROS. To prevent detrimental reactions, a diversified assortment of photoprotection mechanisms has evolved in oxygenic photosynthetic organisms. In this thesis, I focus on the role of alternative electron transfer routes in photoprotection of the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. Firstly, I discovered a novel subunit of the NDH-1 complex, NdhS, which is necessary for cyclic electron transfer around Photosystem I, and provides tolerance to high light intensities. Cyclic electron transfer is important in modulating the ATP/NADPH ratio under stressful environmental conditions. The NdhS subunit is conserved in many oxygenic phototrophs, such as cyanobacteria and higher plants. NdhS has been shown to link linear electron transfer to cyclic electron transfer by forming a bridge for electrons accumulating in the Ferredoxin pool to reach the NDH-1 complexes. Secondly, I thoroughly investigated the role of the entire flv4-2 operon in the photoprotection of Photosystem II under air level CO2 conditions and varying light intensities. The operon encodes three proteins: two flavodiiron proteins Flv2 and Flv4 and a small Sll0218 protein. Flv2 and Flv4 are involved in a novel electron transport pathway diverting electrons from the QB pocket of Photosystem II to electron acceptors, which still remain unknown. In my work, it is shown that the flv4-2 operon-encoded proteins safeguard Photosystem II activity by sequestering electrons and maintaining the oxidized state of the PQ pool. Further, Flv2/Flv4 was shown to boost Photosystem II activity by accelerating forward electron flow, triggered by an increased redox potential of QB. The Sll0218 protein was shown to be differentially regulated as compared to Flv2 and Flv4. Sll0218 appeared to be essential for Photosystem II accumulation and was assigned a stabilizing role for Photosystem II assembly/repair. It was also shown to be responsible for optimized light-harvesting. Thus, Sll0218 and Flv2/Flv4 cooperate to protect and enhance Photosystem II activity. Sll0218 ensures an increased number of active Photosystem II centers that efficiently capture light energy from antennae, whilst the Flv2/Flv4 heterodimer provides a higher electron sink availability, in turn, promoting a safer and enhanced activity of Photosystem II. This intertwined function was shown to result in lowered singlet oxygen production. The flv4-2 operon-encoded photoprotective mechanism disperses excess excitation pressure in a complimentary manner with the Orange Carotenoid Protein-mediated non-photochemical quenching. Bioinformatics analyses provided evidence for the loss of the flv4-2 operon in the genomes of cyanobacteria that have developed a stress inducible D1 form. However, the occurrence of various mechanisms, which dissipate excitation pressure at the acceptor side of Photosystem II was revealed in evolutionarily distant clades of organisms, i.e. cyanobacteria, algae and plants.

The role of product features on buyer-supplier collaboration in packaging industry

The thesis presents the study relative to the collaboration between suppliers and buyers in packaging industry with the impact of product features. The main purpose of this study is to examine the importance of product characteristics on collaboration to develop better packaging and to figure out how buyer-supplier collaboration in the supply chain perspectives is conducted and managed in packaging industry. The theoretical part reviewed some basic frameworks of collaboration including the scopes and levels of collaboration, risks as well as powers of collaboration, relationship and some key factors for successful collaboration. Followed by the overviews of packaging industry with the main issues related to product characteristics in packaging. By using the qualitative method, secondary data consisting of articles, reports, websites and primary data through interviewing some well-known packaging companies and case companies are collected in the thesis. The empirical result emphasized the importance of product features’ analysis in packaging industry since it plays a central role in the materials, design process, production and innovation with the role of collaboration. Collaboration in packaging is vital for packaging companies to survive and grow in the competitive environment. Finally, some key factors for effective collaboration were summarized based on the perspectives of packaging companies. It is highly recommend building a long-run collaboration with their customers due to undeniable benefits With increasingly importance of collaboration in packaging industry, further studies may be conducted.

Heat-transfer improvements in an axial-flux permanent-magnet synchronous machine

Axial-flux machines tend to have cooling difficulties since it is difficult to arrange continuous heat path between the stator stack and the frame. One important reason for this is that no shrink fitting of the stator is possible in an axial-flux machine. Using of liquid-cooled end shields does not alone solve this issue. Cooling of the rotor and the end windings may also be difficult at least in case of two-stator-single-rotor construction where air circulation in the rotor and in the end-winding areas may be difficult to arrange. If the rotor has significant losses air circulation via the rotor and behind the stator yokes should be arranged which, again, weakens the stator cooling. In this paper we study a novel way of using copper bars as extra heat transfer paths between the stator teeth and liquid cooling pools in the end shields. After this the end windings still suffer of low thermal conductivity and means for improving this by high-heat-conductance material was also studied. The design principle of each cooling system is presented in details. Thermal models based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are used to analyse the temperature distribution in the machine. Measurement results are provided from different versions of the machine. The results show that significant improvements in the cooling can be gained by these steps.

Lean management implementation in Horizontal Technology Transfer projects

The importance of Technology Transfer activities of companies is underpinned by the changes in technological and economic environments. However, there is still a significant gap in defining possible ways for Technology Transfer projects effectiveness improvement. The Master’s Thesis overviews common problems faced by the companies in implementation of Technology Transfer projects and examines Lean management principles as possible way to improve its effectiveness. Based on the analysis of the relevant scientific literature and results of the survey, conducted among the firms of different types, the approach to Technology Transfer projects implementation with the use of Lean management principles is proposed. The approach serves to solve some of the important problems faced by the managers of Technology Transfer projects. It is envisaged that this approach can help to increase overall Technology Transfer projects’ effectiveness.

PRODUCT DATA MANAGEMENT FOR FINNISH SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES - Towards a viable information system concept

Product Data Management (PDM) systems have been utilized within companies since the 1980s. Mainly the PDM systems have been used by large companies. This thesis presents the premise that small and medium-sized companies can also benefit from utilizing the Product Data Management systems. Furthermore, the starting point for the thesis is that the existing PDM systems are either too expensive or do not properly respond to the requirements SMEs have. The aim of this study is to investigate what kinds of requirements and special features SMEs, operating in Finnish manufacturing industry, have towards Product Data Management. Additionally, the target is to create a conceptual model that could fulfill the specified requirements. The research has been carried out as a qualitative case study, in which the research data was collected from ten Finnish companies operating in manufacturing industry. The research data is formed by interviewing key personnel from the case companies. After this, the data formed from the interviews has been processed to comprise a generic set of information system requirements and the information system concept supporting it. The commercialization of the concept is studied in the thesis from the perspective of system development. The aim was to create a conceptual model, which would be economically feasible for both, a company utilizing the system and for a company developing it. For this reason, the thesis has sought ways to scale the system development effort for multiple simultaneous cases. The main methods found were to utilize platform-based thinking and a way to generalize the system requirements, or in other words abstracting the requirements of an information system. The results of the research highlight the special features Finnish manufacturing SMEs have towards PDM. The most significant of the special features is the usage of project model to manage the order-to-delivery –process. This differs significantly from the traditional concepts of Product Data Management presented in the literature. Furthermore, as a research result, this thesis presents a conceptual model of a PDM system, which would be viable for the case companies interviewed during the research. As a by-product, this research presents a synthesized model, found from the literature, to abstract information system requirements. In addition to this, the strategic importance and categorization of information systems within companies has been discussed from the perspective of information system customizations.

Monooxygenase Diversity and Oxygen Activation within Polyketide Antibiotic Biosynthesis

Molecular oxygen (O2) is a key component in cellular respiration and aerobic life. Through the redox potential of O2, the amount of free energy available to organisms that utilize it is greatly increased. Yet, due to the nature of the O2 electron configuration, it is non-reactive to most organic molecules in the ground state. For O2 to react with most organic compounds it must be activated. By activating O2, oxygenases can catalyze reactions involving oxygen incorporation into organic compounds. The oxygen activation mechanisms employed by many oxygenases to have been studied, and they often include transition metals and selected organic compounds. Despite the diversity of mechanisms for O2 activation explored in this thesis, all of the monooxygenases studied in the experimental part activate O2 through a transient carbanion intermediate. One of these enzymes is the small cofactorless monooxygenase SnoaB. Cofactorless monooxygenases are unusual oxygenases that require neither transition metals nor cofactors to activate oxygen. Based on our biochemical characterization and the crystal structure of this enzyme, the mechanism most likely employed by SnoaB relies on a carbanion intermediate to activate oxygen, which is consistent with the proposed substrate-assisted mechanism for this family of enzymes. From the studies conducted on the two-component system AlnT and AlnH, both the functions of the NADH-dependent flavin reductase, AlnH, and the reduced flavin dependent monooxygenase, AlnT, were confirmed. The unusual regiochemistry proposed for AlnT was also confirmed on the basis of the structure of a reaction product. The mechanism of AlnT, as with other flavin-dependent monooxygenases, is likely to involve a caged radical pair consisting of a superoxide anion and a neutral flavin radical formed from an initial carbanion intermediate. In the studies concerning the engineering of the S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) dependent 4-O-methylase DnrK and the homologous atypical 10-hydroxylase RdmB, our data suggest that an initial decarboxylation of the substrate is catalyzed by both of these enzymes, which results in the generation of a carbanion intermediate. This intermediate is not essential for the 4-O-methylation reaction, but it is important for the 10-hydroxylation reaction, since it enables substrate-assisted activation of molecular oxygen involving a single electron transfer to O2 from a carbanion intermediate. The only role for SAM in the hydroxylation reaction is likely to be stabilization of the carbanion through the positive charge of the cofactor. Based on the DnrK variant crystal structure and the characterizations of several DnrK variants, the insertion of a single amino acid in DnrK (S297) is sufficient for gaining a hydroxylation function, which is likely caused by carbanion stabilization through active site solvent restriction. Despite large differences in the three-dimensional structures of the oxygenases and the potential for multiple oxygen activation mechanisms, all the enzymes in my studies rely on carbanion intermediates to activate oxygen from either flavins or their substrates. This thesis provides interesting examples of divergent evolution and the prevalence of carbanion intermediates within polyketide biosynthesis. This mechanism appears to be recurrent in aromatic polyketide biosynthesis and may reflect the acidic nature of these compounds, propensity towards hydrogen bonding and their ability to delocalize π-electrons.

Consumer-led new product development. Case: Dairy Industry

This thesis focuses on consolidation the recommendations on the integration of consumer in new product development (NPD) given in the academic literature, and on the example of the three NPD projects in the case company. The empirical findings advocate that the case company fulfills the principles of consumer-led NPD, and it is only one-step away of the full consumer empowerment strategy. Therefore, its NPD can be seen as an example of consumer-led NPD implementation. The findings also suggest that the product can be developed in consumer-led way regardless of the source of an idea (product- or need-driven), the target audience and resources assigned, in case when consumer mindset is integrated on all levels of organisation: strategic, cultural, operational and process. It is possible with top-management commitment, internal consumer research group, and the sophisticated consumer research methods. The specific managerial recommendations are given on developing consumer-led culture, strategy, NPD process and the appropriate consumer research methods and techniques.