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.

Parametric sensitivity analysis for the helium dimers on a model potential

Potential parameters sensitivity analysis for helium unlike molecules, HeNe, HeAr, HeKr and HeXe is the subject of this work. Number of bound states these rare gas dimers can support, for different angular momentum, will be presented and discussed. The variable phase method, together with the Levinson's theorem, is used to explore the quantum scattering process at very low collision energy using the Tang and Toennies potential. These diatomic dimers can support a bound state even for relative angular momentum equal to five, as in HeXe. Vibrational excited states, with zero angular momentum, are also possible for HeKr and HeXe. Results from sensitive analysis will give acceptable order of magnitude on potentials parameters.

Method for determining the photocatalytic potential of portland cement mortar containing TiO2 for decomposing the pollutant nitrogen monoxide

Photocatalytic materials can minimize atmospheric pollution by decomposing certain organic and inorganic pollutants using sunlight as an energy source. In this paper, the development of a methodology to measure the photocatalytic potential of mortar containing TiO2 nanoparticles is reported. The results indicate that up to 40% of NOx can be degraded by Portland cement mortar containing 30-50% of TiO2, which validates the method developed for evaluating the photocatalytic potential of materials.

First principles modeling of metallic alloys and alloy surfaces

By alloying metals with other materials, one can modify the metal’s characteristics or compose an alloy which has certain desired characteristics that no pure metal has. The field is vast and complex, and phenomena that govern the behaviour of alloys are numerous. Theories cannot penetrate such complexity, and the scope of experiments is also limited. This is why the relatively new field of ab initio computational methods has much to give to this field. With these methods, one can extend the understanding given by theories, predict how some systems might behave, and be able to obtain information that is not there to see in physical experiments. This thesis pursues to contribute to the collective knowledge of this field in the light of two cases. The first part examines the oxidation of Ag/Cu, namely, the adsorption dynamics and oxygen induced segregation of the surface. Our results demonstrate that the presence of Ag on the Cu(100) surface layer strongly inhibits dissociative adsorption. Our results also confirmed that surface reconstruction does happen, as experiments predicted. Our studies indicate that 0.25 ML of oxygen is enough for Ag to diffuse towards the bulk, under the copper oxide layer. The other part elucidates the complex interplay of various energy and entropy contributions to the phase stability of paramagnetic duplex steel alloys. We were able to produce a phase stability map from first principles, and it agrees with experiments rather well. Our results also show that entropy contributions play a very important role on defining the phase stability. This is, to the author’s knowledge, the first ab initio study upon this subject.

Bound state solutions of schrödinger equation for a more general exponential screened coulomb potential via Nikiforov-Uvarov method

The arbitrary angular momentum solutions of the Schrödinger equation for a diatomic molecule with the general exponential screened coulomb potential of the form V(r) = (- a / r){1+ (1+ b )e-2b } has been presented. The energy eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenfunctions are calculated analytically by the use of Nikiforov-Uvarov (NU) method which is related to the solutions in terms of Jacobi polynomials. The bounded state eigenvalues are calculated numerically for the 1s state of N2 CO and NO

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.

Atomic level phenomena on transition metal surfaces

In this study we discuss the atomic level phenomena on transition metal surfaces. Transition metals are widely used as catalysts in industry. Therefore, reactions occuring on transition metal surfaces have large industrial intrest. This study addresses problems in very small size and time scales, which is an important part in the overall understanding of these phenomena. The publications of this study can be roughly divided into two categories: The adsorption of an O2 molecule to a surface, and surface structures of preadsorbed atoms. These two categories complement each other, because in the realistic case there are always some preadsorbed atoms at the catalytically active surfaces. However, all transition metals have an active d-band, and this study is also a study of the in uence of the active d-band on other atoms. At the rst part of this study we discuss the adsorption and dissociation of an O2 molecule on a clean stepped palladium surface and a smooth palladium surface precovered with sulphur and oxygen atoms. We show how the reactivity of the surface against the oxygen molecule varies due to the geometry of the surface and preadsorbed atoms. We also show how the molecular orbitals of the oxygen molecule evolve when it approaches the di erent sites on the surface. In the second part we discuss the surface structures of transition metal surfaces. We study the structures that are intresting on account of the Rashba e ect and charge density waves. We also study the adsorption of suphur on a gold surface, and surface structures of it. In this study we use ab-initio based density functional theory methods to simulate the results. We also compare the results of our methods to the results obtained with the Low-Energy-Electron-Difraction method.

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.

Estimation of the potential evapotranspiration by a simplified penman method

The numerous methods for calculating the potential or reference evapotranspiration (ETo or ETP) almost always do for a 24-hour period, including values of climatic parameters throughout the nocturnal period (daily averages). These results have a nil effect on transpiration, constituting the main evaporative demand process in cases of localized irrigation. The aim of the current manuscript was to come up with a model rather simplified for the calculation of diurnal daily ETo. It deals with an alternative approach based on the theoretical background of the Penman method without having to consider values of aerodynamic conductance of latent and sensible heat fluxes, as well as data of wind speed and relative humidity of the air. The comparison between the diurnal values of ETo measured in weighing lysimeters with elevated precision and estimated by either the Penman-Monteith method or the Simplified-Penman approach in study also points out a fairly consistent agreement among the potential demand calculation criteria. The Simplified-Penman approach was a feasible alternative to estimate ETo under the local meteorological conditions of two field trials. With the availability of the input data required, such a method could be employed in other climatic regions for scheduling irrigation.

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).