Supplier Energy Audits in Thermal Power Plants

This master’s thesis handles an operating model for an electric equipment supplier conducted sale oriented energy audit for pumping, fan and other motor applications at power plants. The study goes through the largest factors affecting internal electricity use at a power plant, finds an energy audit –like approach for the basis of information gathering and presents the information needed for conducting the analysis. The model is tested in practice at a kraft recovery boiler of a chemical pulping mill. Targets chosen represent some of the largest electric motor applications in the boiler itself and in its fuel handling. The energy saving potential of the chosen targets is calculated by simulating the energy consumption of the alternatives for controlling the targets, and thereafter combining the information with the volume flow duration curve. Results of the research are somewhat divaricated, as all the information needed is not available in the automation system. Some of the targets could be simulated and their energy saving potential calculated quite easily. At some of the targets chosen the monitoring was not sufficient enough for this and additional measurements would have been needed to base the calculations on. In traditional energy audits, energy efficiency of pump and fan applications is not necessarily examined. This means that there are good possibilities for developing the now presented targeted energy audit procedure basis further.

Utilisation of biomass for energy production in the North-West Russian forest industry

Traditionally, fossil fuels have always been the major sources of the modern energy production. However prices on these energy sources have been constantly increasing. The utilization of local biomass resources for energy production can substitute significant part of the required energy demand in different energy sectors. The introduction of the biomass usage can easily be started in the forest industry first as it possesses biomass in a large volume. The forest industry energy sector has the highest potential for the fast bioenergy development in the North-West Russia. Therefore, the question concerning rational and effective forest resources use is important today as well as the utilization of the forestry by-products. This work describes and analyzes the opportunities of utilising biomass, mainly, in the form of the wood by-products, for energy production processes in general, as well as for the northwest Russian forest industry conditions. The study also covers basic forest industry processes and technologies, so, the reader can get familiar with the information about the specific character of the biomass utilization. The work gives a comprehensive view on the northwest forest industry situation from the biomass utilisation point of view. By presenting existing large-scale sawmills and pulp and paper mills the work provides information for the evaluation of the future development of CHP investments in the northwest Russian forest industry.

Marketing of Lappeenranta University of Technology energy auditing services

The objective of this study was to find out how LUT Energy should start marketing its energy audit services, what would be the optimal pricing policy for its services and how LUT Energy could manage customer expectations towards quality of its auditing services. In order to answer these questions, a quantitative survey questionnaire was sent by e-mail to 56 companies from the regions of South Karelia and Kymenlaakso. The empirical data of the study was the answers and opinions of the companies, previous researches about energy efficiency and articles and presentations about the current situation in the energy efficiency market. The results of the study were that there is a great potential for energy audit services and also the legislation requires companies to improve their energy efficiency. To start marketing its services, LUT Energy should first clarify its service concept and divide its service offering into two offers. It should also clarify the marketing message it wants to send its customers and then do the marketing with the help of three-way-model. The best pricing policy for the service would be that the price is proportioned to the future savings. In order to ensure the quality of its services, LUT Energy has to make sure that both dimensions of the quality are managed properly and to fade out customer expectations towards the quality the auditing work has to be monitored.

Environmental policy instruments concerning industrial end-use energy efficiency

Energy efficiency and saving energy are the main question marks when thinking of reducing carbon dioxide emissions or cutting costs. The objective of thesis is to evaluate policy instruments concerning end-use energy efficiency of heavy industry in European Union. These policy instruments may be divided in various ways, but in this thesis the division is to administrative, financial, informative and voluntary instruments. Administrative instruments introduced in this thesis are Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control, Directive on Energy End-use Efficiency and Energy Services, and Climate and Energy Package. Financial means include energy and emission taxation, EU Emission Trading Scheme and diverse support systems. Informative instruments consist of horizontal BAT Reference Document for Energy Efficiency, as well as substantial EU documents including Green Paper on Energy Efficiency, Action Plan for Energy Efficiency and An Energy Policy for Europe. And finally, voluntary instruments include environmental managements systems like ISO 14001 and EMAS, energy auditing and benchmarking. The efficiency of different policy instruments vary quite a lot. Informative instruments lack the commitment from industry and are thus almost ineffective, contrary to EU Emission Trading Scheme, which is said to be the solution to climate problems. The efficiency of administrative means can be placed between those mentioned and voluntary instruments are still quite fresh to be examined fruitfully. However, each instrument has their potential and challenges. Cases from corporate world strengthen the results from theoretical part. Cases were written mainly on the basis of interviews. The interviewees praised the energy efficiency contract of Finnish industry, but the EU ETS takes the leading role of policy instruments. However, for industry the reductions do not come easily.

On Value Creation at an Industrial Intersection – Bioenergy in the Forest and Energy Sectors

The traditional forest industry is a good example of the changing nature of the competitive environment in many industries. Faced with drastic challenges forestindustry companies are forced to search for new value-creating strategies in order to create competitive advantage. The emerging bioenergy business is now offering promising avenues for value creation for both the forest and energy sectors because of their complementary resources and knowledge with respect to bioenergy production from forest-based biomass. The key objective of this dissertation is to examine the sources of sustainable competitive advantage and the value-creation opportunities that are emerging at the intersection between the forest and energy industries. The research topic is considered from different perspectives in order to provide a comprehensive view of the phenomenon. The study discusses the business opportunities that are related to producing bioenergy from forest-based biomass, and sheds light on the greatest challenges and threats influencing the success of collaboration between the forest and energy sectors. In addition, it identifies existing and potential bioenergy actors, and considers the resources and capabilities needed in order to prosper in the bioenergy field. The value-creation perspective is founded on strategic management accounting, the theoretical frameworks are adopted from the field of strategic management, and the future aspect is taken into account through the application of futures studies research methodology. This thesis consists of two parts. The first part provides a synthesis of the overall dissertation, and the second part comprises four complementary research papers. There search setting is explorative in nature, and both qualitative and quantitative research methods are used. As a result, the thesis lays the foundation for non-technological studies on bioenergy. It gives an example of how to study new value-creation opportunities at an industrial intersection, and discusses the main determinants affecting the value-creation process. In order to accomplish these objectives the phenomenon of value creation at the intersection between the forest and energy industries is theorized and connected with the dynamic resource-based view of the firm.

On the potential utilisation of sawdust and wood chip screenings

This work is based on the utilisation of sawdust and wood chip screenings for different purposes. A substantial amount of these byproducts are readily available in the Finnish forest industry. A black liquor impregnation study showed that sawdust-like wood material behaves differently from normal chips. Furthermore, the fractionation and removal of the smallest size fractions did not have a significant effect on the impregnation of sawdust-like wood material. Sawdust kraft cooking equipped with an impregnation stage increases the cooking yield and decreases the lignin content of the produced pulp. Impregnation also increases viscosity of the pulp and decreases chlorine dioxide consumption in bleaching. In addition, impregnation increases certain pulp properties after refining. Hydrotropic extraction showed that more lignin can be extracted from hardwood than softwood. However, the particle size had a major influence on the lignin extraction. It was possible to extract more lignin from spruce sawdust than spruce chips. Wood chip screenings are usually combusted to generate energy. They can also be used in the production of kraft pulp, ethanol and chemicals. It is not economical to produce ethanol from wood chip screenings because of the expensive wood material. Instead, they should be used for production of steam and energy, kraft pulp and higher value added chemicals. Bleached sawdust kraft pulp can be used to replace softwood kraft pulp in mechanical pulp based papers because it can improve certain physical properties. It is economically more feasible to use bleached sawdust kraft pulp in stead of softwood kraft pulp, especially when the reinforcement power requirement is moderate.

Evaluation of energy efficiency and best available techniques in pumping processes

The potential for enhancing the energy efficiency of industrial pumping processes is estimated to be in some cases up to 50 %. One way to define further this potential is to implement techniques in accordance to definition of best available techniques in pumping applications. These techniques are divided into three main categories: Design, control method & maintenance and distribution system. In the theory part of this thesis first the definition of best available techniques (BAT) and its applicability on pumping processes is issued. Next, the theory around pumping with different pump types is handled, the main stress being in centrifugal pumps. Other components needed in a pumping process are dealt by presenting different control methods, use of an electric motor, variable speed drive and the distribution system. Last part of the theory is about industrial pumping processes from water distribution, sewage water and power plant applications, some of which are used further on in the empirical part as example cases. For the empirical part of this study four case studies on typical pumping processes from older Master’s these were selected. Firstly the original results were analyzed by studying the distribution of energy consumption between different system components and using the definition of BAT in pumping, possible ways to improve energy efficiency were evaluated. The goal in this study was that by the achieved results it would be possible to identify the characteristic energy consumption of these and similar pumping processes. Through this data it would then be easier to focus energy efficiency actions where they might be the most applicable, both technically and economically.

Perspectives for the production and usage of wood chips as a source of energy in the North-West of Russia

The development of bioenergy on the basis of wood fuels has received considerable attention in the last decades. The combination of large forest resources and reliance on fossil fuels makes the issue of wood chips usage in Russia an actual topic for the analysis. The main objective of this study is to disclose the current state and perspectives for the production of wood chips and their usage as a source of energy in the North-West of Russia. The study utilizes an integrated approach to explore the market of wood chips on the basis of comprehensive analysis of documentation and expert opinions. The analysis of wood chips market was performed for eight regions of the North-West district of Russia within two major dimensions: its current state and perspectives in the nearest five years. The results of the study show a comprehensive picture of the wood chips market, including the potential for wood chips production, the specific features of production and consumption and the perspectives for the market development within the regions of the North-West district of Russia. The study demonstrated that the market of wood chips is underdeveloped in the North-West of Russia. The findings of the work may be used by forest companies for the strategic planning.

Developing markets of energy biomass – local and global perspectives

The thesis explores global and national-level issues related to the development of markets for biomass for energy. The thesis consists of five separate papers and provides insights on selected issues. The aim of Paper I was to identify methodological and statistical challenges in assessing international solid and liquid biofuels trade and provide an overview of the Finnish situation with respect to the status of international solid and liquid biofuels trade. We found that, for the Finnish case, it is possible to qualify direct and indirect trade volumes of biofuels. The study showed that indirect trade of biofuels has a highly significant role in Finland and may be a significant sector also in global biofuels trade. The purpose of Paper II was to provide a quantified insight into Finnish prospects for meeting the national 2020 renewable energy targets and concurrently becoming a largescale producer of forest-biomass-based second-generation biofuels for feeding increasing demand in European markets. We found that Finland has good opportunities to realise a scenario to meet 2020 renewable energy targets and for large-scale production of wood-based biofuels. The potential net export of transport biofuels from Finland in 2020 would correspond to 2–3% of European demand. Paper III summarises the global status of international solid and liquid biofuels trade as illuminated by several separate sources. International trade of biofuels was estimated at nearly 1 EJ for 2006. Indirect trade of biofuels through trading of industrial roundwood and material by-products comprises the largest proportion of the trading, with a share of about two thirds. The purpose of Paper IV was to outline a comprehensive picture of the coverage of various certification schemes and sustainability principles relating to the entire value-added chain of biomass and bioenergy. Regardless of the intensive work that has been done in the field of sustainability schemes and principles concerning use of biomass for energy, weaknesses still exist. The objective of Paper V was to clarify the alternative scenarios for the international biomass market until 2020 and identify the underlying steps needed toward a wellfunctioning and sustainable market for biomass for energy purposes. An overall conclusion drawn from this analysis concerns the enormous opportunities related to the utilisation of biomass for energy in the coming decades.

Solution Business Model for Energy Efficiency

This study examined solution business models and how they could be applied into energy efficiency business. The target of this study was to find out, what a functional solution business model applied to energy efficiency improvement projects is like. The term “functionality” was used to refer not only to the economic viability but to environmental and legal aspects and also to the implement of Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and the ability to overcome the most important market barriers and risks. This thesis is based on a comprehensive literature study on solution business, business models and energy efficiency business. This literature review was used as a foundation to an energy efficiency solution business model scheme. The created scheme was tested in a case study which studied two different energy efficiency improvement projects, illustrated the functionality of the created business model and evaluated their potential as customer targets. Solution approach was found to be suitable for energy efficiency business. The most important characteristics of a good solution business model were identified to be the relationship between the supplier and customer, a proper network, knowledge on the customer’s process and supreme technological expertise. Thus the energy efficiency solution business was recognized to be particularly suitable for example for energy suppliers or technological equipment suppliers. Because the case study was not executed from a certain company’s point of view, the most important factors such as relationships and the availability of funding could not be evaluated. Although the energy efficiency business is recognized to be economically viable, the most important factors influencing the profitability and the success of energy efficiency solution business model were identified to be the proper risk management, the ability to overcome market barriers and the realization of CSFs.

Reduction of specific energy consumption of a thermomechanical pulping plant

Kuumahiertoprosessi on erittäin energiaintensiivinen prosessi, jonka energianominaiskulutus (EOK) on yleisesti 2–3.5 MWh/bdt. Noin 93 % energiasta kuluu jauhatuksessa jakautuen niin, että kaksi kolmasosaa kuluu päälinjan ja yksi kolmasosa rejektijauhatuksessa. Siksi myös tämän työn tavoite asetettiin vähentämään energian kulutusta juuri pää- ja rejektijauhatuksessa. Päälinjan jauhatuksessa tutkimuskohteiksi valittiin terityksen, tehojaon ja tuotantotason vaikutus EOK:een. Rejektijauhatuksen tehostamiseen pyrittiin yrittämällä vähentää rejektivirtaamaa painelajittelun keinoin. Koska TMP3 laitoksen jauhatuskapasiteettia on nostettu 25 %, tavoite oli nostaa päälinjan lajittelun kapasiteettia saman verran. Toisena tavoitteena oli pienentää rejektisuhdetta pää- ja rejektilajittelussa ja siten vähentää energiankulutusta rejektijauhatuksessa. Näitä tavoitteita lähestyttiin vaihtamalla päälinjan lajittimiin TamScreen-roottorit ja rejektilajittimiin Metso ProFoil-roottorit ja optimoimalla kuitufraktiot sihtirumpu- ja prosessiparametrimuutoksin. Syöttävällä terätyypillä pystyttiin vähentämään EOK:ta 100 kWh/bdt, mutta korkeampi jauhatusintensiteetti johti myös alempiin lujuusominaisuuksiin, korkeampaan ilmanläpäisyyn ja korkeampaan opasiteettiin. Myös tehojaolla voitiin vaikuttaa EOK:een. Kun ensimmäisen vaiheen jauhinta kuormitettiin enemmän, saavutettiin korkeimmillaan 70 kWh/bdt EOK-vähennys. Tuotantotason mittaamisongelmat heikensivät tuotantotasokoeajojen tuloksia siinä määrin, että näiden tulosten perusteella ei voida päätellä, onko EOK tuotantotasoriippuvainen vai ei. Päälinjan lajittelun kapasiteettia pystyttiin nostamaan TS-roottorilla vain 18 % jääden hieman tavoitetasosta. Rejektilajittelussa pystyttiin vähentämään rejektimäärää huomattavasti Metso ProFoil-roottorilla sekä sihtirumpu- ja prosessiparametrimuutoksin. Lajittamokehityksellä saavutettu EOK-vähennys arvioitiin massarejektisuhteen pienentymisen ja rejektijauhatuksessa käytetyn EOK:n avulla olevan noin 130 kWh/bdt. Yhteenvetona voidaan todeta, että tavoite 300 kWh/bdt EOK-vähennyksestä voidaan saavuttaa työssä käytetyillä tavoilla, mikäli niiden täysi potentiaali hyödynnetään tuotannossa.

Cyanobacteria from the Baltic Sea and Finnish lakes as an energy source and modulators of bioenergetic pathways

Cyanobacteria are a diverse group of oxygenic photosynthetic bacteria that inhabit in a wide range of environments. They are versatile and multifaceted organisms with great possibilities for different biotechnological applications. For example, cyanobacteria produce molecular hydrogen (H2), which is one of the most important alternatives for clean and sustainable energy. Apart from being beneficial, cyanobacteria also possess harmful characteristics and may become a source of threat to human health and other living organisms, as they are able to form surface blooms that are producing a variety of toxic or bioactive compounds. The University of Helsinki Culture Collection (UHCC) maintains around 1,000 cyanobacterial strains representing a large number of genera and species isolated from the Baltic Sea and Finnish lakes. The culture collection covers different life forms such as unicellular and filamentous, N2-fixing and non-N2-fixing strains, and planktonic and benthic cyanobacteria. In this thesis, the UHCC has been screened to identify potential strains for sustainable biohydrogen production and also for strains that produce compounds modifying the bioenergetic pathways of other cyanobacteria or terrestrial plants. Among the 400 cyanobacterial strains screened so far, ten were identified as high H2-producing strains. The enzyme systems involved in H2 metabolism of cyanobacteria were analyzed using the Southern hybridization approach. This revealed the presence of the enzyme nitrogenase in all strains tested, while none of them are likely to have contained alternative nitrogenases. All the strains tested, except for two Calothrix strains, XSPORK 36C and XSPORK 11A, were suggested to contain both uptake and bidirectional hydrogenases. Moreover, 55 methanol extracts of various cyanobacterial strains were screened to identify potent bioactive compounds affecting the photosynthetic apparatus of the model cyanobacterium, Synechocystis PCC 6803. The extract from Nostoc XPORK 14A was the only one that modified the photosynthetic machinery and dark respiration. The compound responsible for this effect was identified, purified, and named M22. M22 demonstrated a dual-action mechanism: production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) under illumination and an unknown mechanism that also prevailed in the dark. During summer, the Baltic Sea is occupied by toxic blooms of Nodularia spumigena (hereafter referred to as N. spumigena), which produces a hepatotoxin called nodularin. Long-term exposure of the terrestrial plant spinach to nodularin was studied. Such treatment resulted in inhibition of growth and chlorosis of the leaves. Moreover, the activity and amount of mitochondrial electron transfer complexes increased in the leaves exposed to nodularin-containing extract, indicating upregulation of respiratory reactions, whereas no marked changes were detected in the structure or function of the photosynthetic machinery. Nodularin-exposed plants suffered from oxidative stress, evidenced by oxidative modifications of various proteins. Plants initiated strategies to combat the stress by increasing the levels of alpha-tocopherol, mitochondrial alternative oxidase (AOX), and mitochondrial ascorbate peroxidase (mAPX).

New perspectives on the melanocortins and their cardiovascular effects: Potential implications for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases with melanocortin analogues

The melanocortin peptides, including melanocyte-stimulating hormones, α-, β- and γ-MSH, are derived from the precursor peptide proopiomelanocortin and mediate their biological actions via five different melanocortin receptors, named from MC1 to MC5. Melanocortins have been implicated in the central regulation of energy balance and cardiovascular functions, but their local effects, via yet unidentified sites of action, in the vasculature, and their therapeutic potential in major vascular pathologies remain unclear. Therefore, the main aim of this thesis was to characterise the role of melanocortins in circulatory regulation, and to investigate whether targeting of the melanocortin system by pharmacological means could translate into therapeutic benefits in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension. In experiments designed to elucidate the local effects of α-MSH on vascular tone, it was found that α-MSH improved blood vessel relaxation via a nitric oxide (NO)-dependent mechanism without directly contracting or relaxing blood vessels. Furthermore, α-MSH was shown to regulate the expression and function of endothelial NO synthase in cultured human endothelial cells via melanocortin 1 receptors. In keeping with the vascular protective role, pharmacological treatment of mice with α-MSH analogues displayed therapeutic efficacy in conditions associated with vascular dysfunction such as obesity. Furthermore, α-MSH analogues elicited marked diuretic and natriuretic responses, which together with their vascular effects, seemed to provide protection against sodium retention and blood pressure elevation in experimental models of hypertension. In conclusion, the present results identify novel effects for melanocortins in the local control of vascular function, pointing to the potential future use of melanocortin analogues in the treatment of cardiovascular pathologies.

Current status of the waste-to-energy chain in the County of North Savo, Finland

The aim of this report is to describe the current status of the waste-to-energy chain in the province of Northern Savonia in Finland. This work is part of the Baltic Sea Region Programme project Remowe-Regional Mobilizing of Sustainable Waste-to-Energy Production (2009-2012). Partnering regions across Baltic Sea countries have parallelly investigated the current status, bottle-necks and needs for development in their regions. Information about the current status is crucial for the further work within the Remowe project, e.g. in investigating the possible future status in target regions. Ultimate result from the Northern Savonia point of view will be a regional model which utilizes all available information and facilitates decision-making concerning energy utilization of waste. The report contains information on among others: - waste management system (sources, amounts, infrastructure) - energy system (use, supply, infrastructure) - administrative structure and legislation - actors and stakeholders in the waste-to-energy field, including interest and development ideas The current status of the regions will be compared in a separate Remowe report, with the focus on finding best practices that could be transferred among the regions. In this report, the current status has been defined as 2006-2009. In 2009, the municipal waste amount per capita was 479 kg/inhabitant in Finland. Industrial waste amounted 3550 kg/inhabitant, respectively. The potential bioenergy from biodegradable waste amounts 1 MWh/inhabitant in Northern Savonia. This figure includes animal manure, crops that would be suitable for energy use, sludge from municipal sewage treatment plants and separately collected biowaste. A key strategy influencing also to Remowe work is the waste plan for Eastern Finland. Currently there operate two digestion plants in Northern Savonia: Lehtoniemi municipal sewage treatment sludge digestion plant of Kuopion Vesi and the farm-scale research biogas plant of Agrifood Research Finland in Maaninka. Moreover, landfill gas is collected to energy use from Heinälamminrinne waste management centre and Silmäsuo closed landfill site, both belonging to Jätekukko Oy. Currently there is no thermal utilization of waste in Northern Savonia region. However, Jätekukko Oy is pretreating mixed waste and delivering refuse derived fuel (RDF) to Southern Finland to combustion. There is a strong willingness among seven regional waste management companies in Eastern Finland to build a waste incineration plant to Riikinneva waste management centre near city of Varkaus. The plant would use circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler. This would been a clear boost in waste-to-energy utilization in Northern Savonia and in many surrounding regions.

Homogeneous assay technologies in drug screening: Quenching Resonance Energy Transfer (QRET) technique

Information gained from the human genome project and improvements in compound synthesizing have increased the number of both therapeutic targets and potential lead compounds. This has evolved a need for better screening techniques to have a capacity to screen number of compound libraries against increasing amount of targets. Radioactivity based assays have been traditionally used in drug screening but the fluorescence based assays have become more popular in high throughput screening (HTS) as they avoid safety and waste problems confronted with radioactivity. In comparison to conventional fluorescence more sensitive detection is obtained with time-resolved luminescence which has increased the popularity of time-resolved fluorescence resonance energy transfer (TR-FRET) based assays. To simplify the current TR-FRET based assay concept the luminometric homogeneous single-label utilizing assay technique, Quenching Resonance Energy Transfer (QRET), was developed. The technique utilizes soluble quencher to quench non-specifically the signal of unbound fraction of lanthanide labeled ligand. One labeling procedure and fewer manipulation steps in the assay concept are saving resources. The QRET technique is suitable for both biochemical and cell-based assays as indicated in four studies:1) ligand screening study of β2 -adrenergic receptor (cell-based), 2) activation study of Gs-/Gi-protein coupled receptors by measuring intracellular concentration of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cell-based), 3) activation study of G-protein coupled receptors by observing the binding of guanosine-5’-triphosphate (cell membranes), and 4) activation study of small GTP binding protein Ras (biochemical). Signal-to-background ratios were between 2.4 to 10 and coefficient of variation varied from 0.5 to 17% indicating their suitability to HTS use.