Fuel availability, effective costs

A solid fuel containing a mixture of wood flour and DB propellant as a binder can provide adequate heat energy to warm food and to prepare tea or coffee. These fuels are highly cost-effective as the ingredients, particularly the DB propellants, are either from the waste available in plenty from the ordnance factories or life-expired DB propellants available from the armed services. This also reduces the disposal problem of DB propellant waste to a large extent. 

A further examination of these four requirements shows that items 1 and 3 are relatively fixed in nature, once the approximate characteristics for a petroleum fuel have been established. In contrast, items 2 and 4 are subject to modification, wherein research and engineering can be applied to reduce the cost and increase the convenience of transportation. Obviously the convenience and efficiency of converting the fuel energy into useful work are dependent in major part on the characteristics of the machine which effects the conversion. It is also true, but somewhat less obvious, that the availability and cost of the fuel are equally dependent upon the nature of the engine and vehicle in which the fuel is used. 

Effective Costs of Limited Retail Fuel Availability... 

FIGURE 14-2. Effective cost to consumers versus fuel availability. 

The aim of using off-peak electricity is to reduce the electricity cost and to make the power plant investment more effective. However, in the case of off-peak electricity, the hydrogen production plant has a disadvantage of low availability. In the CRIEPI study, the hydrogen price at hydrogen stations for fuel-cell vehicles was assessed with a simple model. The model can take the plant size, plant availability and cost of electricity into account. 

Magnesium hydroxide offers a cost-effective replacement for ATH in flame retardancy and smoke suppression. It produces more char and dilutes the fuel available to sustain combustion. It allows processing at up to 10()°C higher than ATH, and can significantly improve efficiency. It is also less abrasive than ATH, giving longer life to processing equipment. 

Ammonium nitrate is the principal base material in slurry explosives and lower-cost blasting agents. It can be converted to an effective blasting agent by proper mixing with a carboniferous material such as fuel oil. Ammonium Nitrate/Fuel Oil (ANFO) mixtures are used extensively in open-pit mining and outdoor construction work because of ease of handling, availability, low cost, and safety. 

Steam-Generating Facilities These form the second largest investment item for chemical-plant auxiliaiy equipment. Variations in capacity, location indoors or outdoors, the type of fuel used, pressure and temperature levels, and the type of process served have an important effect on actual cost as well as on cost relative to other auxiliaiy items. Package boiler instaUations can be purchased as shop-built units which are assembled, piped, and wired ready to be erected on the owner s foundations. They are available in units up to about 136,000 kg/h (300,000 Ib/h), although units larger than about 45,360... 

The type of fuel is one of the most important aspects that govern the selection of a gas turbine. Chapter 12 handles the type of fuels and their effect in detail. Natural gas would be the choice of most operators if natural gas was available since its effects on pollution is minimal and maintenance cost would also be the lowest. Table 4-1 shows how the maintenance cost would increase from natural gas to the heavy oils. 

Reduction of exhaust emissions is being tackled in two ways by engineers, including precombustion and postcombustion technology. One of the most effective methods now being researched and adopted includes use of synthetic fuel made from natural gas. This fuel is crystal clear, and just like water, it has no aromatics, contains no sulfur or heavy metals, and when used with a postcombustion device such as a catalytic converter any remaining NO, or other emissions can be drastically reduced. Estimates currently place the cost of this fuel at 1.50 per gallon, with availability in 2004 to meet the next round of stiff EPA exhaust emission standards. 

Produces strong, blocky coke having good reactivity. Involves low capital and running costs. Production process delinks with availability of markets for byproducts. Allows shut down without any detrimental effects to refractory. Produces hard coke for foundry. The process is characterized by simplicity. There involves no requirements of extra fuel for heating as in by-product oven practice. 

A major advantage of plasma processing is that the heat input may be accomplished in an atmosphere of any desired composition and reactivity. In practice there are only a few variations of chemical strategies available for thermal processing i.e. pyrolysis, oxidation, reactions with hydrogen and water. They were already reported elsewhere [5]. The most cost effective and friendly to the environment are the approaches of plasma employing for zero-waste fuel generation or for zero-waste incineration. 

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