This thesis deals with a technical economic analysis of the midrange biomass units use. The main output product of the thesis is the computational system based on balance models of cogeneration key nodes. The computational system is suited for cogeneration technologies based on the Rankin steam cycle. The computational system was used for a particular case study calculation focused on a 1 MW biomass boiler extension by an expansion engine (a steam turbine or steam engine).

The Economic Analysis of Tort Law Abstract In the presented thesis I discuss the economic analysis of tort law. The economic analysis of law can be described as the application of economic theory - primarily microeconomics and the basic concepts of welfare economics - to examine the formation, structure, processes, and economic impact of law and legal institutions. The economic analysis of tort law can help understand the impact of tort liability on individuals' behavior, why some areas of human activity are governed by negligence or strict liability, or why, in some cases, the amout of damages is limited. First two chapters describe the economic approach to law as such, they serve as an introduction into this field of study and present the most important methodological approaches. In the first chapter, I also discuss the basic tendencies that have shaped the economic analysis of law throughout its development. Second chapter then discusses some of the fundamental concepts of the economic analysis of law, namely the assumption of rational action, the concept of transaction costs, the efficiency criterion, the importance of the Coase theorem, and the distinction between property rules and liability rules. Following the examination of the concept of economic efficiency, an alternative approach based on the...

Wind resources are highly intermittent and fluctuant, making wind turbines less reliable and the unstable power output will affect grid stability and security. This paper presents an idea of integrating the solar PV plant and energy storage system into an existing wind project, project Rödene in Gothenburg. The hybrid renewable system, which consists of two or more renewable energy sources, is considered the renewable energy development trend. An economic analysis of a 1.2 MW PV plant, 5 MW lithium-ion battery storage system and 300 kg hydrogen fuel cell storge system are assessed in terms of LCOE and LCOS of plants. The revenue stream is discussed separately, consisting of electricity tariff, ancillary services and energy arbitrage. The results show that both PV plant and energy store systems are unprofitable. When the PV panel cost is reduced more than 30% and the annual production increases at least 30%, the LCOE of the PV plant arrives at the break-even point. Also result shows the hydrogen fuel cell energy storage system is too expensive of commercial use, and the battery energy storage system has a high potential of profitable if the ancillary service in Sweden is well organized in the future

Biomass to Liquids via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (BTL-FT) is regarded as one of the most promising routes for providing alternative solution to growing demand for energy and environmental protection. In Chapter I, the development and key issues of BTL-FT process (especially Fischer-Tropsch synthesis) were reviewed and identified. In Chapter II, Mo/HZSM-5 catalyst was synthesized using Incipient Wetness Impregnation method and tested in nitrogen rich model bio-syngas. Different operation parameters (temperature, pressure, and GHSV) were tested to investigate their influence on the catalytic performance. Those parameters were found to affect the performance significantly. Liquid samples from conversion were mainly composed of C8 to C10 range hydrocarbons. The catalyst characterization revealed that molybdenum species were well distributed on the catalyst support, while dealumination, agglomeration and coke deposition were observed in spent catalyst. The top layer of the spent catalyst had the most coke deposition. A Three-Dimensionally Ordered Macro-porous (3DOM) Fe based Fischer-Tropsch catalyst was developed using a facile in-situ Nitrate Oxidation-PMMA templating technique in Chapter III. Several techniques (including SEM, BET, TPR, HRTEM, XRD, XPS, and DRIFTS) were combined to characterize the morphology, textural properties and microstructures of 3DOM Fe catalysts at different stages. The effects of bio-syngas composition on carbonaceous species formation, iron phase transformation and catalytic performance were investigated and correlated. A novel hybrid bio-refinery process co-converting biomass and natural gas into liquid fuels via FTS with a CO2 recycle loop was developed, modeled and simulated by using Aspen Plus in Chapter IV. The Aspen Plus model utilized experimental data from the 3DOM Fe catalyst. Economic analysis was performed on different scenarios based on the simulation results to determine profitability of the process. Results indicated that 102.65 t/h gasoline and 22.93 t/h diesel can be produced with the co-processing of 100.00 t/h biomass and 112.3 t/h natural gas using 307.78 t/h of recycled CO2 in the process simulation. The carbon conversion rate was estimated to be 81.23% for the hybrid process. Economic analysis revealed that the process can be profitable when using at least 10.00 t/h biomass and 11.23 t/h natural gas.

With increasing awareness of environmental issues and worldwide requirements for sustainable development, renewable energy technologies with lower environmental impact, especially those having abundant resources like wind and solar energy, attract more attention. Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) is one of the most promising solar energy technologies. Indeed, thermal energy storage (TES) units could be integrated into CSP plants, enhancing their flexibility and capacity factor. However, tower based CSP plants still remain cost intensive. This study evaluates the performance of a 55MWe combined-cycle CSP plant with rock-bed TES located in Sevilla, Spain. Sensitivity analysis has been performed to assess the influence of critical parameters. Furthermore, in order to decrease the costs with increasing efficiency, improved CSP plant schemes have been proposed. In the study, EES, SAM and TRNSYS are used to design and simulate the model from technological perspective, then the capital and operational costs are calculated in MATLAB. For one-year simulation of the designed case, the performance of the plant is determined by the trade-off among several conflicting factors. The study focuses on three key indicators to measure the performance- levelized costs of electricity (LCoE), capital expenditure (CAPEX) and efficiency factor (UF). As long as CAPEX is within the acceptable range, LCoE would be the most concerned one-as low as possible, then followed by UF. Compared to conventional CCGT plant, the proposed combined-cycle tower-based CSP plant, with efficiency of 0.49 and LCoE of 196USD/MWe, enables efficiency improvements, while both CAPEX and LCoE are higher. On the other hand, it has to be noticed that CCGT relies on fuel (natural gas) price, which means higher risks and operational expenditure (OPEX). A sensitivity study is involved varying gas turbine expansion ratio (to vary its outlet temperature and therefore supply power for the bottoming Rankine cycle), size of TES and solar multiple (SM). It can be found that same LCoE and UF could be achieved with lower CAPEX by setting appropriate parameters. The study also introduces two improved CSP plant schemes with sensitivity study. To some extent, the LCoE decreases due to increasing power output and the efficiency of the system simultaneously increases. / Med ökad medvetenhet om miljöfrågor och globala krav på hållbar utveckling lockar förnybar energi teknologi med lägre miljöpåverkan, särskilt de som har stora resurser som vind och solenergi, mer uppmärksamhet. Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) är en av de mest lovande solenergi teknologierna. Faktiskt kan värmeenergi lagringsenheter integreras i CSP-anläggningar, vilket förbättrar deras flexibilitet och kapacitetsfaktor. Träbaserade CSP-anläggningar är dock fortfarande kostnads intensiva. Denna studie utvärderar prestandan för en 55MWe CSP-anläggning med kombinerad cykel med TESsandbädd i Sevilla, Spanien. Känslighetsanalys har utförts för att bedöma påverkan av kritiska parametrar. För att minska kostnaderna med ökad effektivitet har dessutom förbättrade CSP-anläggningsprogram föreslagits. I studien används EES, SAM och TRNSYS för att designa och simulera modellen ur teknologiskt perspektiv, sedan beräknas kapital och driftskostnader i MATLAB. För ett års simulering av det planerade fallet bestäms anläggningens prestanda av bytet mellan flera motstridiga faktorer. Studien fokuserar på tre nyckelindikatorer för att mäta prestandanivå kostnaderna för el (LCoE), investeringar (CAPEX) och effektivitetsfaktor (UF). Så länge CAPEX ligger inom det acceptabla intervallet, skulle LCoE vara den mest bekymrade en så låg som möjligt, följt av UF. Jämfört med konventionell CCGT-anläggning möjliggör den föreslagna träbaserade CSP-anläggningen med kombinerad cykel med effektivitet 0,49 och LCoE på 196USD / MWe effektivitetsförbättringar, medan både CAPEX och LCoE är högre. Å andra sidan måste man notera att CCGT förlitar sig på bränslepriset (naturgas), vilket innebär högre risker och driftsutgifter (OPEX). En känslighetsstudie är involverad med varierande utvidgning förhållande för gasturbin (för att variera dess utloppstemperatur och därmed leverera ström för botten Rankine-cykeln), storlek på TES och sol multipel (SM). Det kan konstateras att samma LCoE och UF skulle kunna uppnås med lägre CAPEX genom att ställa in lämpliga parametrar. Studien introducerar också två förbättrade CSP-anläggningar med känslighetsstudie. I viss utsträckning minskar LCoE på grund av ökad effekt och systemets effektivitet ökar samtidigt.

Rapid growth of digitalization has urged Data Centres (DC) to be more energy efficient by recovering waste heat from server racks that would otherwise be wasted. This techno-economic study is focused on upgrading low temperature waste heat from typical Air-Cooled DC for District Heating Network (DHN) market in Stockholm region. The methodology is carried out by four system configurations that are experimented with different historical electricity data, impacts of climate change with simulated weather data, and variations in DHN temperature as the heat supply scenario development. The results show that DC configuration with combination of both free-cooling and waste heat recovery can foster techno-economic benefits by reducing cooling consumption by 55.6%, compared to DC configuration with free-cooling only; and further lowering Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) from 1.95 to 1.52. Lifecycle Operational Expenditure (LCO) has also been used as the economic indicator to represent the maximum initial investment that data centre should accept when deciding to recover the waste heat to the DHN. Moreover, the new technical Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) were introduced to support the decision-making in the supply of recovered waste heat to DHN. The electricity price was further identified to have greater impact than the effect of climate change for the overall techno-economic performance. On one specific hand, heat supply with Price-Limit scenario concluded that 40.18% of available waste heat from DC is not profitable should it be injected to DHN in the case of low electricity price. In the case when the electricity price is high, the amount of waste heat not injected to DHN increases to 58.57%. / <p>The thesis defense presentation was held digitally on Zoom on June 19th 2023 at 09.00 CEST</p>

Bakgrund – Essity, en framstående aktör inom hygien- och hälsobranschen, står inför utmaningar gällande logistikflödet för konsumentprodukter från produktionsanläggningen i Lilla Edet till kunder i Danmark. Den nuvarande logistikprocessen involverar intern transport med egna lastbilar till externa lager. I detta sammanhang är det av yttersta vikt att säkerställa snabba och kostnadseffektiva leveranser, samtidigt som kundtillfredsställelse upprätthålls. Syfte – Projektet syftar till att analysera och optimera Essitys nuvarande logistikflöde för konsumentprodukter. Fokus ligger på att identifiera potentiella förbättringar för att säkerställa smidiga och effektiva leveranser till den danska marknaden. En central del av studien innefattar även övervägandet av att integrera en tredjepartslogistikpartner (3PL) för att ytterligare förbättra logistikstrukturen. Metod – En omfattande metodik har använts, där både kvalitativa och kvantitativa aspekter har analyserats. Genom intervjuer och observationer har data samlats in för att skapa en holistisk förståelse för nuvarande logistikflöde och eventuella alternativa lösningar. Resultat och diskussion – Den omfattande analysen av Essitys nuvarande logistikflöde avslöjar viktiga insikter. Den befintliga metoden, med intern transport till externa lager, visar sig vara ekonomiskt gynnsam, särskilt när kontrakterade kostnader för externa lager och andra projektrelaterade utgifter för år 2023 beaktas. Det är värt att notera att de ekonomiska data för en alternativ lösning från en potentiell 3PL-leverantör gäller för år 2025. För att förstå möjliga förändringar i kostnader över tid har hänsyn tagits till den potentiella ökningen av kostnaderna för den befintliga metoden. Diskussionen inkluderar också miljöaspekter, där olika lösningar övervägs för att identifiera den mest hållbara och lönsamma strategin för Essitys logistik. Lösning 2, som involverar byggandet av ett nytt lager (green warehouse) och användning av elfordon och HVO-drivna lastbilar, presenterar sig som en hållbar inriktning som kan minska CO2-utsläppen och bidra till Essitys övergripande mål att minska miljöpåverkan. Rekommendationer för Essity – Baserat på resultaten av analysen rekommenderas Essity att genomföra en benchmarking för att undersöka erbjudanden från andra potentiella 3PL- leverantörer. Förhandlingar med det nuvarande externa lagret för att förbättra prisstrukturen bör övervägas, särskilt med tanke på de betydande totala kostnaderna för båda lösningarna. Slutligen bör Essity överväga att göra en strategisk investering i att bygga ett utökat manuellt lager nära det befintliga, vilket kan möjliggöra ökad flexibilitet och kostnadseffektivitet över tiden. / Background – Essity, a prominent player in the hygiene and health industry, faces challenges regarding the logistics flow for consumer products from its production facility in Lilla Edet to customers in Denmark. The current logistics process involves internal transportation with company-owned trucks to external warehouses. In this context, ensuring swift and cost- effective deliveries while maintaining customer satisfaction is of utmost importance. Purpose – The project aims to analyze and optimize Essity's current logistics flow for consumer products. The focus is on identifying potential improvements to ensure smooth and efficient deliveries to the Danish market. A central part of the investigation also involves considering the integration of a third-party logistics partner (3PL) to further enhance the logistics structure. Method – A comprehensive methodology has been employed, analyzing both qualitative and quantitative aspects. Through interviews and observations, data has been collected to gain a holistic understanding of the current logistics flow and potential alternative solutions. Results and Discussion – The extensive analysis of Essity's current logistics flow reveals crucial insights. The existing method, involving internal transport to external warehouses, proves to be economically advantageous, especially when considering contracted costs for external warehouses and other project-related expenses for the year 2023. It is worth noting that the economic data for an alternative solution from a potential 3PL provider applies to the year 2025. To understand possible changes in costs over time, considerations have been made for the potential increase in costs for the existing method. The discussion also includes environmental aspects, where different solutions are considered to identify the most sustainable and profitable strategy for Essity's logistics. Solution 2, involving the construction of a new warehouse (green warehouse) and the use of electric vehicles and HVO-driven trucks, presents itself as a sustainable approach that can reduce CO2 emissions and contribute to Essity's overall goal of reducing environmental impact. Recommendations for Essity – Based on the results of the analysis, Essity is recommended to conduct a more in-depth benchmarking to explore offerings from other potential 3PL providers. Negotiations with the current external warehouse to improve the price structure should be considered, especially considering the significant total costs for both solutions. Finally, Essity should contemplate making a strategic investment in building an expanded manual warehouse near the existing one, enabling increased flexibility and cost-effectiveness over time.

High and medium-voltage digital substations play an essential role in the energy transition since they are part of the equipment required to deploy smart grids. With the gradual increase of smart grids, energy systems are becoming more flexible with the growing penetration of renewable energies and distributed energy generation. Simultaneously, the energy system’s efficiency increases, with load supply precisely where required and reduced losses. Medium voltage stations have not been upgraded gradually like high voltage stations; therefore, most of Stockholm’s medium voltage stations are considered old and do not include digital remote monitoring or remote-control features. These conventional stations must be retrofitted with digital technology or replaced with new digitized stations. Previous studies show the technical potential of updating non-digitized stations to reduce interruption times. Still, a systematic assessment of these types of projects’ profitability is missing. This project aims to perform a techno-economic assessment for retrofitting conventional urban medium voltage substations with digital technology, modeling different configurations of digitalization (levels 1 and 2) to suggest the most convenient set-up, balancing the technical and economic facets. Furthermore, it investigates the prospect and profitability of reducing interruption times by 50% with the digitization of substations. The methodology proposed used a reference test system based on the most representative type of network for an urban medium voltage network in Stockholm: A Double cable – open loop structure consisting of 5 single cable secondary substations. A calculation method was performed to obtain the expected results evaluating all the possible combinations of digitalized stations in the feeder line. Results suggest that the best outcome is formed by the last station retrofitted with remote control (level 2) and the other four stations with monitoring (level 1). This setup could reduce SAIDI by 71% and the total customer costs by 26.3%. To make this outcome profitable, a reduction in Omexom Labor Costs of 13.6% is required if a discount rate of 7% is used, but if this value is below 4.65%, a reduction in Labor Costs is unnecessary. Furthermore, results show that a set-up of 5 monitoring digitized stations can reduce SAIDI by 56.8%. Thus, it aligns with Ellevio’s objective to reduce by half their interruption times. A reduction of 12.9% in Labor Costs would be required to achieve this as a profitable setup; on the other hand, if the discount rate is below 4.65%, it is unnecessary. / Digitala hög- och medelspänningsstationer spelar en avgörande roll i energiomställningen eftersom de är en del av den utrustning som krävs för att implementera smarta elnät. Med den gradvisa ökningen av smarta elnät blir energisystemen mer flexibla med den ökande penetrationen av förnybar energi och distribuerad energiproduktion. Samtidigt ökar energisystemets effektivitet, med lastförsörjning precis där det behövs och minskade förluster. Medelspänningsstationerna har inte uppgraderats gradvis som högspänningsstationerna; därför anses de flesta av Stockholms medelspänningsstationer vara gamla och inkluderar inte digital fjärrövervakning eller fjärrstyrningsfunktioner. Dessa konventionella stationer måste antingen uppgraderas med digital teknik eller ersättas med nya digitaliserade stationer. Tidigare studier visar den tekniska potentialen att uppdatera icke-digitaliserade stationer för att minska avbrottstiderna, men en systematisk bedömning av lönsamheten för sådana projekt saknas. Detta projekt syftar till att utföra en teknisk-ekonomisk utvärdering för att uppgradera konventionella urbana medelspänningsstationer med digital teknik, genom att modellera olika konfigurationer av digitalisering (nivå 1 och 2) för att föreslå den mest lämpliga uppställningen, där tekniska och ekonomiska aspekter balanseras. Dessutom ska möjligheterna och lönsamheten för att minska avbrottstiderna med 50% genom digitalisering av stationer undersökas. Den föreslagna metoden använder ett referenstestsystem baserat på den mest representativa typen av nätverk för ett urbant medelspänningsnät i Stockholm: en dubbelkabel - öppen slingstruktur bestående av 5 enskilda kabelunderstationer. En beräkningsmetod användes för att få de förväntade resultaten genom att utvärdera alla möjliga kombinationer av digitaliserade stationer i matarledningen. Resultaten antyder att det bästa resultatet uppnås genom att den sista stationen uppgraderas med fjärrstyrning (nivå 2) och de andra fyra stationerna med övervakning (nivå 1). Denna uppställning kan minska SAIDI med 71% och totala kundkostnader med 26.3%. För att göra detta resultat lönsamt krävs en minskning av Omexom arbetskostnader med 13.6% om en diskonteringsränta på 7% används, men om detta värde är under 4.65% behövs ingen minskning av arbetskraftskostnader. Dessutom visar resultaten att en uppställning med 5 övervakningsdigitaliserade stationer kan minska SAIDI med 56.8%. Detta stämmer överens med Ellevios mål att halvera sina avbrottstider. En minskning av arbetskraftskostnader med 12.9% skulle krävas för att uppnå detta som en lönsam uppställning. Å andra sidan, om diskonteringsräntan är under 4.65%, finns det ingen anledning att minska arbetskraftskostnader.

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