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Currently, the United States is investigating methods to close the nuclear fuel cycle and increase the use of nuclear power for electricity and cogeneration applications. Congress has called for and held hearings in an attempt to determine an appropriate path forward for reprocessing of nuclear fuel. However, each current proposed method presents a different set of attributes with regards to: Complexity, safety, wastes, and proliferation risks. This thesis provides a decision analysis methodology for approaching the reprocessing issue. The presented methodology builds on the previous work done in the 1970s. Further, current reprocessing technologies which are capable of processing the oxide fuels utilized in the majority of United States reactors are evaluated across ten attributes related to reprocessing performance. A weighted total score is provided for each reprocessing method in order to separate the technological from political or emotional issues related to selection of a process. While it is not the goal of this thesis to select a particular best technology, application of this methodology results in the selection of the COmbined EXtraction (COEX) technology when equal weighting is put on the attributes as defined. It is unlikely that a decision maker will approach this decision with equal weighting; however, actual decision maker weightings are known only to the decision makers. By altering the weightings, different technologies are selected.

The renewable energy industry continues to expand at a rapid pace. New advances in cellulosic ethanol technologies have the potential to reduce our dependency on foreign oil. The evolution of these new biofuel markets could have significant effects on future production levels, market prices, and world trade levels for various agricultural commodities. Alternative scenarios involving new biofuel technologies, primary factor availability, and government policy will result in very different outcomes for the agricultural economy. The interactions of current and new biofuel technologies, including conventional ethanol production (from corn grain) and cellulosic ethanol production (from corn stover and switchgrass), and the agricultural economy were examined in a general equilibrium framework. Various outcomes were examined with attention primarily focused on (1) trade offs among competing uses of agricultural commodities, (2) changes in the output of major agricultural producers competing with the U.S., (3) effects on the livestock industry, (4) profitability of the agricultural industry, (5) changes in input costs, including land rents, and (6) changes in land use patterns. Results indicated that advances in cellulosic ethanol technology led to less grain ethanol production and more stover ethanol production in the United States. The production of switchgrass ethanol was not economically feasible under any scenario, which was expected due to the availability of lower priced corn stover. Overall, it was expected that a decrease in the costs of cellulosic ethanol production would lead to a higher increase in total U.S. ethanol production than actually occurred. As a result, the effects on the world economy were smaller than expected.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xv, 155 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 120-123).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xviii, 144 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 106-113).

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 24, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation supervisors: Dr. William H. Miller, Dr. Brady D. Hanson. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Hong Kong is vulnerable to energy and economic security due to the heavy dependence on imported fossil fuels. Waste has also been a major environmental management problem due to the amount of rubbish produced every year but lacking the technology and capital to manage different types properly. The objective of the dissertation is to study the feasibility of the use of biofuel in Hong Kong by recycling local waste. Current government policies in Hong Kong and overseas are being investigated on the appropriateness for domestic use. Literature reviews and stakeholders’ questionnaires are accounted to analyse the adaptability and popularity of the biodiesel application. The methodology of the dissertation is to firstly examine literature reviews regarding biodiesel’s environmental aspect, technical efficiencies, economic aspect, government incentives and tax constraints. The consensus outcome of these researches advocated high popularity of biodiesel consumption and production in Europe and U.S. due to lower environmental impact, equivalent output efficiency and strong government support. Their successful implementation is a good example to improvise biodiesel domestically in Hong Kong. Secondly, interviews were conducted with Hong Kong’s limited stakeholders. Respondents such as Hong Kong International Airport, Hong Kong Jockey Club, Fairwood Fastfood MTR Maritime Square were interviewed as these participants have been the pioneers in Hong Kong by recycling waste into biodiesel. On the production side, two out of three bio-refineries in Hong Kong provided their business sustainability and feasibility comments to pursue a long term goal. The limitation on responses might be focused solely on a few peer groups, and not the appropriate stakeholders with proper sampling size. However, the results are concurrent that biodiesel is one of the best alternative energy in Hong Kong. The dissertation draws positive results based on the following factors. Biodiesel can diminish the tremendous cost on waste management and landfill dumping. Using local food waste and industrial wastes from restaurants and food factories as feedstock to produce biodiesel is positive. This will also minimise the heavy reliance on imported fossil fuels to diversify energy sources. Refuelling of biodiesel fuel can be performed in any gas stations with the use of the existing infrastructure without any further requirement of new investment. Nonetheless, in order to facilitate the use of biodiesel, incentives programmes initiated by Hong Kong Government and the biofuel producers have to coherently promote this alternative fuel. The conclusion states that Hong Kong is completely feasible to adopt the use of biodiesel in medium to heavy sized vehicles and vessels in the commercial sector. The environmental benefit of Hong Kong using biodiesel stood out compared to other form of renewable energy. / published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

Biodiesel is a promising renewable alternative fuel to fossil energy. For the biodiesel production from low-cost feedstock, a pretreatment step is essential, which is the esterification of free fatty acids (e.g. oleic acid) in the feedstock in order to avoid soap formation and minimize catalyst deactivation. Sulfuric acid modified zirconia (H2SO4-ZrO2) is known as an effective heterogeneous catalyst for esterification. However, due to rapid 〖SO〗_4^(2-) leaching, its reusability is low and its practical use is thus largely hindered. Zirconia supported on silica (ZrO2-SiO2) serves as a kind of non-sulfated zirconia catalyst against the leaching of the active species. Moreover, the silica support offers a large surface area and excellent thermal stability, which can accommodate a number of active zirconia species. Furthermore, there are Zr-O-Si bondings at the contact area between ZrO2 and SiO2, which might result in the formation of a new strong acid species and induce an increase of the zirconia acidity accordingly. Herein, two types of ZrO2-SiO2 catalysts were prepared, by using the reverse microemulsion method and sol-gel-hydrothermal method, denoted as ZrO2-SiO2-ME and ZrO2-SiO2-SG, respectively. The as synthesized ZrO2-SiO2 were characterized by TEM, SEM, EDX, XRD, BET and IR. ZrO2-SiO2-ME demonstrated a good dispersion of ZrO2 nanoparticles, encapsulating in the monodispersed SiO2 host matrix, while ZrO2-SiO2-SG possessed the SiO2 support with a mesoporous structure, with an average pore size of ~7 nm and a surface area of 418 m2/g. The catalysts both exhibited excellent catalytic activity and stable performance in the esterification of oleic acid. Besides non-sulfated zirconia, sulfated zirconia catalysts other than traditional H2SO4-ZrO2 were also developed as solid acid catalysts for biodiesel production. Two sulfur-containing strong acids, chlorosulfonic acid (HClSO3) and (NH4)2SO4, were employed to acidify ZrO2, and two sulfated zirconia catalysts were prepared accordingly, namely HClSO3-ZrO2 and S-ZrO2. They were characterized by SEM, EDX, XRD, BET, IR, TGA and NH3-TPD. Comparing with H2SO4-ZrO2, HClSO3-ZrO2 and S-ZrO2 contained higher sulfur content and more acid sites. More importantly, both HClSO3-ZrO2 and S-ZrO2 demonstrated high catalytic activity and excellent durability in the esterification of oleic acid. It is known that consecutive esterification and transesterification reactions are suitable for direct biodiesel production and acetylation of glycerol enables the conversion of this biodiesel byproduct to a biofuel additive. Therefore, all the above mentioned catalysts were examined to compare their catalytic abilities in these reactions. Among the four catalysts, HClSO3-ZrO2 exhibited the highest catalytic activity in both reactions under optimal conditions. The thesis work here described the preparation and characterization of four types of ZrO2-based solid acid catalysts. Their catalytic activities were thoroughly investigated upon the several essential steps in biodiesel production. In addition, the synthesis condition-activity relation was studied and the synthesis and reaction conditions were delicately tuned. / published_or_final_version / Chemistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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D. Tech. Chemical Engineering / Objectives of the study is to optimize the production of biodiesel from non-edible oils using both homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts.