Due to continuously stricter regulations regarding emissions from power generation processes, development of existing gas turbine combustors is essential. A promising alternative to conventional flame combustion in gas turbines is catalytic combustion, which can result in ultra low emission levels of NOx, CO and unburned hydrocarbons. The work presented in this thesis concerns the development of methane oxidation catalysts for gas turbine combustors. The application of catalytic combustion to different combustor concepts is addressed in particular. The first part of the thesis (Paper I) reports on catalyst development for fuel-lean methane combustion. The effect on catalytic activity of diluting the reaction mixture with water and carbon dioxide was studied in order to simulate a combustion process with exhaust gas recirculation. Palladium-based catalysts were found to exhibit the highest activity for methane oxidation under fuel-lean conditions. However, the catalytic activity was significantly decreased by adding water and CO2, resulting in unacceptably high ignition temperatures of the fuel. In the second part of this thesis (Paper II), the development of rhodium catalysts for fuel-rich methane combustion is addressed. The effect of water addition on the methane conversion and the product gas composition was studied. A significant influence of the support material and Rh loading on the catalytic behavior was found. The addition of water influenced both the low-temperature activity and the product gas composition. / QC 20101126

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Uppsatsen behandlar third party ownership (TPO) inom den professionella fotbollen där fokus främst ligger på den europeiska toppfotbollen. Vidare tas fotbollens autonoma ställning till samhällets övriga grenar upp och belyses. Syftet med uppsatsen är till stor del att belysa en problematik som den traditionella juristkåren inte anammat. Idrottsjuridiken har visserligen vuxit sig större på senare år men är i det stora sammanhanget ett underutvecklat område och den juridiska debatten gällande TPO är i Sverige väldigt tunn. I Europa och framförallt England däremot är det ett oerhört aktuellt, omdiskuterat och omtvistat område. Third party ownership är en affärsmodell som kan bli aktuell vid alla internationella som nationella övergångar av en professionell fotbollsspelare till en professionell fotbollsklubb. En tredje part – som inte är en annan fotbollsklubb – äger då en del av eller de fullständiga ekonomiska rättigheterna till en spelares fotbollsrelaterade tjänster. Förfarandet används i Europa men har ännu inte nått Sverige. Detta beror till stor del på att fotbollens största och agendasättande organisationer, FIFA och UEFA, visat en motvilja till att låta denna affärsmodell fortskrida obehindrat. Sedan fenomenet först uppdagades har de ansvariga organisationerna inom toppfotbollen arbetat på att förbjuda TPO. Detta har främst skett genom införandet av art. 18bis i RSTP, ett internationellt regelverk som behandlar alla övergångar, även sådana på nationell nivå. Denna förbjuder att en tredje part utövar något inflytande över klubb eller spelare, men inte något ägande. Denna bestämmelse tar i princip ändå sikte på TPO. Av skälen till varför man vill förbjuda TPO finns bland annat att det är etiskt och moraliskt förkastligt för en part att kunna äga en annan människa, att det urholkar sportens integritet samt att det inte rimmar väl med den nya ekonomiska regleringen som börjar gälla säsongen 2013-2014, FFPR som i stora drag innebär att varje klubb ska leva inom sina egna tillgångar. Detta negativa förhållningssätt från FIFA och UEFA har kritiserats bland klubbar, spelare och verksamma jurister inom fotbollen som menar att det inte bör förbjudas, utan istället regleras i någon mån. Organisationernas autonomi har även den utmanats när ett avgörande på europeisk nivå föll och indirekt bekräftade att fotbollens regler måste böja sig för EU-rätten. Problemet har inte varit kännbart i Sverige men chansen att så sker inom kort finns.

1. Sphingolipid-cholesterol domains (lipid rafts) in normal human and dog thyroid follicular cells are not involved in thyrotropin receptor signalling. <p>Thyroid hormone regulates growth and development throughout the animal kingdom. The thyroid which secretes it, is controlled by TSH and its receptor TSHR. TSH and its receptor TSHR act through TSHR-coupled G proteins to control thyroid functions, with a stronger coupling of the TSHR with Gs protein than with Gq protein in human thyrocytes. Gq is not activated by TSH/TSHR in dog, whereas dog TSHR activates it in CHO transfected cells. To better understand TSHR and its downstream effectors G proteins, we attempted to answer the questions by the role of “lipid rafts/caveolae” in TSH action.<p>Lipid rafts/caveolae are sphingolipids-cholesterol-enriched microdomains on plasma membrane that have been proposed to play a role in signal transduction. By concentrating the signal molecules, lipid rafts/caveolae increase the efficiency of the interactions between the molecules and sequestrate them from the bulk membranes. The compartmentation of signal proteins in lipid rafts/caveolae might provide a possible explanation for the relationship between TSHR and G proteins in human and dog thyroctyes.<p>To answer these questions, we first tested the existence of such lipid microdomains in human and dog thyrocytes. By northernblot and RT-PCR of caveolin-1 mRNA, we demonstrated its existence in thyrocytes. The immunohistochemistry of caveolin-1 showed that caveolin/caveolae are present on the apical membrane of thyrocytes, opposite to the TSHR localization on the basolateral membranes. The isolation of lipid rafts/caveolae by Triton X-100/OptiPrep density experiments showed that TSHR and Gq are not in the rafts, even though other proteins such as insulin receptor, flotillin-2 and partially Gs are present in these lipid domains, as expected. Testing the function of the TSH receptor on its main cascade (Gs-Adenylyl cyclase-cAMP) after treating the follicles with Methyl β-cyclodextrin (a cholesterol chelator), we observed no modification of the cAMP levels by this treatment. This is in agreement with our conclusion that the TSHR-Gs-cAMP pathway does not involve the lipid rafts/caveolae domain.<p>TSH-activated signalling does not take place in these membrane domains. Therefore, the differences between species, concerning the TSHR-G proteins coupling cannot be explained by the presence of these membrane domains.<p>2. Species specific thyroid signal transduction: conserved physiology, diverged mechanisms<p>As mentioned above, Gq proteins are activated in human but not in dog thyroid, in response to TSHR. However the dog TSH receptor is able to activate Gq, as demonstrated in transfected CHO cells. Thus, different thyroid signal transduction pathways exist in different species. <p>In this study, we investigated the effects of TSH on its two signal transduction cascades, the cAMP pathway and the phospholipase C – IP3 – DAG pathway, as measured by cAMP levels and inositol phosphate generation. We also measured the effects of TSH and of agents stimulating specifically one of these cascades, forskolin for the cAMP pathway and Ca++ ionophore (ionomycin) and phorbolmyristate ester (TPA) for the phospholipase C pathway, on markers of thyroid hormone synthesis (H2O2 generation and iodide binding to proteins) and on thyroid hormone secretion in vitro in the various thyroids. <p>We demonstrated that in all species investigated, the TSH receptor activates both hormone synthesis and secretion. While in some species, including humans, rats and mice, the TSH receptor activates both the cAMP and phospholipase C– IP3 – DAG cascades, in others (e.g. dog) it only stimulates the first. The cAMP pathway activates the limiting step in thyroid hormone synthesis, the generation of H2O2, in dog, rat and mice but not in human, pig, horse and beef. Thus physiology remains but the pathways to achieve it differ. On a practical point of view, these results allow to choose adequate animal models for investigating different aspects of human thyroid signalling.<p><p>3. Duoxes -TPO association and its regulation in human thyrocytes: the thyroxisome<p>Duox (Dual Oxidase) and TPO (thyroid peroxidase) are the crucial enzymes for the thyroid hormones biosynthesis (T3/T4). TPO uses the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) produced by Duox1 and Duox2 isoenzymes to covalently link oxidized iodide to tyrosines of thyroglobulin and couple the iodinated tyrosines to form triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4). An excess of H2O2 is considered to be toxic for cells although at appropriate concentrations H2O2 may carry out signalling functions. Even though thyrocytes show a better resistance to H2O2 than other cells, it would be beneficial for thyrocytes if Duox and TPO localize closely to increase the working efficiency and avoid an excessive H2O2 spillage. In this study, we explored the association of Duox with TPO, and the possible factors affecting their interaction in the human thyrocyte model. This association was established by co-immunoprecipitation approaches on purified plasma membranes from human thyrocytes and COS-7 transfected cells. <p>Our results show that 1) Duox and TPO localize closely at the plasma membranes of human thyrocytes, 2) this association is up-regulated through the Gq-PLC-Ca2+-PKC pathway and down-regulated through the Gs-cAMP-PKA pathway. 3) H2O2 directly increases the association of Duox and TPO. 4) Partial NH2- or COOH-terminal Duox1 and Duox2 proteins show different binding abilities with TPO in COS-7 transfected cells.<p>The association of the two proteins Duox and TPO thus supports our previous hypothesis of the thyroxisome, a pluriprotein plasma membrane complex in which elements of the iodination apparatus localize closely, thus optimizing working efficiency and minimizing H2O2 spillage. Defect in this association, independently of the catalytic efficiency of the enzyme, could therefore impair thyroid hormone synthesis and be harmful to thyroid cells, leading to thyroid insufficiency.<p> / Doctorat en Sciences biomédicales et pharmaceutiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Syftet med det här arbetet var att undersöka en eventuell koppling mellan subklinisk hypotyreos och depression. De hypoteser som prövas är: ”Värdet för tyreoideastimulerande hormon (TSH) kan användas som markör för depression” samt ”Värdet för antikroppar mot tyreoperoxidas (TPOAk) kan användas som markör för depression”. Metoden som använts är en litteraturstudie. Vetenskapliga artiklar publicerade 2012 och framåt som möter inklusionkriterierna har använts. Dessa kriterier var att artiklarna skulle vara orginalstudier, vetenskapligt granskade, mäta nivåer av TSH och TPOAk i serum samt undersöka sambandet mellan hypotyreos och depression genom att titta på serumnivåer av TSH och TPOAk. Studierna skulle ej vara utförda på djur. Resultatet visar att fyra av sju artiklar påvisar ett positivt samband mellan hypotyreos och depression. Det visar även att tre artiklar kunde påvisa ett positivt samband mellan TSH och depression och tre artiklar kunde påvisa ett positivt samband mellan TPOAk och depression. Slutsatsen är att det verkar finnas ett samband mellan subklinisk hypotyreos och depression samt att TSH och TPOAk inte enskilt utgör markörer för depression men det sammantagna värdet av dem bör kunna ge en indikation på om det finns ett samband eller inte. / The aim of this study was to investigate a possible link between subclinical hypothyroidism and depression. The hypotheses that where being tested are: "the level of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) can be used as a marker for depression" and "the level of thyroperoxidase antibodies (TPOAb) can be used as a marker for depression". The method used is a literature review. Scientific articles published in 2012 and forward meeting the criteria for inclusion have been used. These criteria were that the articles would be original, peer-reviewed studies, measuring levels of TSH and TPOAb in serum and examine the link between hypothyroidism and depression by looking at serum levels of TSH and TPOAb. The studies should not be conducted on animals. The results show that four out of seven articles indicate a positive association between hypothyroidism and depression. It also shows that three articles were able to demonstrate a positive association between the TSH and depression and three articles were able to demonstrate a positive association between TPOAb and depression. The conclusion is that there appears to be a link between subclinical hypothyroidism and depression and that the levels of TSH and of TPOAb do not individually represent markers of depression but the overall value of them should be able to give an indication of whether there is a connection or not.

Catalytic combustion is an environmentally benign technologywhich has recently reached the stage of commercialization.Palladium is the catalyst of choice when considering gasturbines fuelled with natural gas because of its superioractivity for methane oxidation. Several fundamental issues arestill open and their understanding would result in animprovement of the technology. Hence, the work presented inthis thesis aims at the identification of some of theparameters which govern the combustion activity ofpalladium-based catalysts. The first part of this work gives a background to catalyticcombustion and a brief comparison with other existingtechnologies. Paper I reviews some of the issues related tomaterial development and combustor design. The second part of this thesis consists of an experimentalinvestigation on palladium-based catalysts. The influence ofthe preparation method onthe properties of these catalystmaterials is investigated in Paper II. Paper III examines theactivity of the following catalysts: Pd/Al2O3, Pd/Ba-Al2O3 andPd/La-Al2O3. Specific attention is given to the metal-supportinteraction which strongly affects the combustion activity ofpalladium. The effect of doping of the support by addition ofcerium is reported in Paper IV. Finally, the deactivation of combustion catalysts isconsidered. The various deactivation processes which may affecthigh temperature combustion catalysts are reviewed in Paper V.Paper VI focuses on the poisoning of supported palladiumcatalysts by sulphur species. Palladium exhibits a higherresistance to sulphur poisoning than transition metals.Nevertheless, the nature of the support material plays animportant role and may entail a severe loss of activity whensulphur is present in the fuel-air mixture entering thecombustion chamber. <b>Keywords</b>: catalytic combustion, gas turbine, methane,palladium, alumina, barium, lanthanum, oxidation, preparation,temperature-programmed oxidation (TPO), decomposition,reoxidation, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS),metal-support interaction, deactivation, sulphur, poisoning.The cover illustration is a TEM picture of a 100 nm palladiumparticle supported on alumina

Catalytic combustion is a promising combustion technology for gas turbines, which results in ultra low emission levels of nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons (UHC). Due to the low temperature achieved in catalytic combustion almost no thermal NOx is formed. This thesis is concentrated on the first stage in a catalytic combustion chamber, i.e. the ignition catalyst. The catalyst used for this application is often a supported palladium based catalyst due to its excellent activity for methane combustion. However, this type of catalyst has a serious drawback; the methane conversion decreases severely with time during operation. The unstable activity will result in increasing difficulties to ignite the fuel. The parameters that govern the poor stability and other features of the palladium catalysts are discussed in the thesis. The objective of the work is to improve the catalytic performance of supported palladium catalysts, with focus on stabilising the methane conversion. A large number of different bimetallic palladium catalysts have been evaluated, where the influence of co-metals, molar ratio and support material is addressed. Results from the activity tests of methane combustion showed that it is possible to stabilise the activity by adding certain co-metals into the palladium catalyst. An extensive characterisation study has been carried out on the various bimetallic catalysts in order to gain a better understanding of how their morphology and physicochemical properties determine the various patterns of combustion behaviour. The environment inside a gas turbine combustor is very harsh for a catalyst. Since the stability of the catalyst is of great importance for ignition catalysts, it is essential to evaluate the risk of deactivation. In this work special emphasis has been given to thermal deactivation, water inhibition and sulphur poisoning. It was found that a bimetallic Pd Pt catalyst is significantly more tolerant to the various deactivation processes investigated than the monometallic palladium catalyst. Finally, the influence of pressure on the catalytic performance has been investigated. The catalysts were assessed at more realistic conditions for gas turbines, in a high-pressure test facility with 100 kW fuel power. / QC 20100916

This thesis summarizes the methods and major findings of Ni-W(P)/ã-Al2O3 nitride cata-lyst synthesis, characterization, hydrotreating activity, kinetic analysis and correlation of the catalysts activities to their synthesis parameters and properties.<p> The range of parameters for catalyst synthesis were W (15-40 wt%), Ni (0-8 wt%), P (0-5 wt%) and nitriding temperature (TN) (500-900 °C). Characterization techniques used included: N2 sorption studies, chemisorption, elemental analysis, temperature programmed studies, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray, infrared spectroscopy, trans-mission electron microscopy and x-ray absorption near edge structure. Hydrodesulfurization (HDS), hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) and hydrodearomatization (HDA) were performed at: tem-perature (340-380 °C), pressure (6.2-9.0 MPa), liquid hourly space velocity (1-3 h-1) and hydro-gen to oil ratio (600 ml/ml, STP).<p> The predominant species on the catalyst surface were Ni3N, W2N and bimetallic Ni2W3N. The bimetallic Ni-W nitride species was more active than the individual activities of the Ni3N and W2N. P increased weak acid sites while nitriding temperature decreased amount of strong acid sites. Low nitriding temperature enhanced dispersion of metal particles. P interacted with Al2O3 which increased the dispersion of metal nitrides on the catalyst surface. HDN activity in-creased with Ni and P loading but decreased with increase in nitriding temperature (optimum conversion; 60 wt%). HDS and HDA activities went through a maximum with increase in the synthesis parameters (optimum conversions; 88. wt% for HDS and 47 wt% for HDA). Increase in W loading led to increase in catalyst activity. The catalysts were stable to deactivation and had the nitride structure conserved during hydrotreating in the presence of hydrogen sulfide.<p> The results showed good correlation between hydrotreating activities (HDS and HDN) and the catalyst nitrogen content, number of exposed active sites, catalyst particle size and BET surface area.<p> HDS and HDN kinetic analyses, using Langmuir-Hinshelwood models, gave activation energies of 66 and 32 kJ/mol, respectively. There were no diffusion limitations in the reaction process. Two active sites were involved in HDS reaction while one site was used for HDN. HDS and HDN activities of the Ni-W(P)/ã-Al2O3 nitride catalysts were comparable to the corre-sponding sulfides.

This thesis summarizes the methods and major findings of Ni-W(P)/ã-Al2O3 nitride cata-lyst synthesis, characterization, hydrotreating activity, kinetic analysis and correlation of the catalysts activities to their synthesis parameters and properties.<p> The range of parameters for catalyst synthesis were W (15-40 wt%), Ni (0-8 wt%), P (0-5 wt%) and nitriding temperature (TN) (500-900 °C). Characterization techniques used included: N2 sorption studies, chemisorption, elemental analysis, temperature programmed studies, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray, infrared spectroscopy, trans-mission electron microscopy and x-ray absorption near edge structure. Hydrodesulfurization (HDS), hydrodenitrogenation (HDN) and hydrodearomatization (HDA) were performed at: tem-perature (340-380 °C), pressure (6.2-9.0 MPa), liquid hourly space velocity (1-3 h-1) and hydro-gen to oil ratio (600 ml/ml, STP).<p> The predominant species on the catalyst surface were Ni3N, W2N and bimetallic Ni2W3N. The bimetallic Ni-W nitride species was more active than the individual activities of the Ni3N and W2N. P increased weak acid sites while nitriding temperature decreased amount of strong acid sites. Low nitriding temperature enhanced dispersion of metal particles. P interacted with Al2O3 which increased the dispersion of metal nitrides on the catalyst surface. HDN activity in-creased with Ni and P loading but decreased with increase in nitriding temperature (optimum conversion; 60 wt%). HDS and HDA activities went through a maximum with increase in the synthesis parameters (optimum conversions; 88. wt% for HDS and 47 wt% for HDA). Increase in W loading led to increase in catalyst activity. The catalysts were stable to deactivation and had the nitride structure conserved during hydrotreating in the presence of hydrogen sulfide.<p> The results showed good correlation between hydrotreating activities (HDS and HDN) and the catalyst nitrogen content, number of exposed active sites, catalyst particle size and BET surface area.<p> HDS and HDN kinetic analyses, using Langmuir-Hinshelwood models, gave activation energies of 66 and 32 kJ/mol, respectively. There were no diffusion limitations in the reaction process. Two active sites were involved in HDS reaction while one site was used for HDN. HDS and HDN activities of the Ni-W(P)/ã-Al2O3 nitride catalysts were comparable to the corre-sponding sulfides.

<p>Catalytic combustion is a promising combustion technique in gas turbines, which results in ultra low levels of NO_x, CO and unburned hydrocarbons. Due to the low combustion temperature achieved in catalytic combustion almost no thermal NOx is formed. The focus in this thesis will be on the first stage in a catalytic combustion chamber, i.e. the ignition catalyst. The catalyst used for this application is often a supported palladium-based catalyst due to its excellent activity for methane combustion. However, this type of catalyst has a serious drawback; the methane conversion decreases with time during operation. The unstable activity will result in increasing difficulties to ignite the fuel. The objective of the work presented in this thesis has been to improve the catalytic performance of supported palladium catalysts, with focus on stabilizing the methane conversion.</p><p>The first part gives a general background to gas turbines and catalytic combustion.</p><p>The second part concerns the monometallic palladium catalysts; their behaviour during methane combustion is addressed.</p><p>The third part describes different bimetallic catalysts, which all have palladium as one of the active components. Results from the activity tests of methane combustion showed that it is possible to stabilize the activity by adding certain co-metals into the palladium catalyst. The morphology of the various bimetallic catalysts has been studied to gain a better understanding of the various combustion behaviours.</p><p>Finally, the influence of pressure on the catalytic performance is evaluated. The catalysts were tested under more realistic conditions for gas turbines, with elevated pressure, in a high-pressure test facility with a 100 kW fuel power.</p>