Medical oxygen is the key to survival for COVID-19 patients. To meet the pandemic-driven oxygen demand spike, local hospitals began searching for a suitable medical oxygen delivery system. Among the studies published on the impact of COVID-19 on a range of aspects, including the global economy and the environment, no study has been conducted on the environmental impact of medical oxygen supply to hospitals under epidemic conditions. In this paper the authors perform a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental and economic impact of three scenarios (oxygen cylinders, liquid oxygen in tanks and on-site oxygen production) of local oxygen supply to hospitals in Poland. The LCA was performed according to ISO 14040 -14,044 standards requirements, using the SimaPro 9.0 software. Results from the analysis showed that the Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Fine Particulate Matter Formation Potential (FPMFP) indicators for the liquid oxygen in tank scenario are the lowest and equal 265 kg CO 2 eq and 0.309 kg PM 2.5 eq. respectively. The greatest terrestrial acidification reductions (−1.38 kg SO 2 eq) can be achieved when applying the on-site oxygen production scenario. Our findings revealed that the oxygen in cylinders scenario has the most harmful impact on the environment. The economic analysis was performed in order to compare the monthly and annual operational costs of analysed scenarios. The results show that hospitals sustain the lowest annual costs when using the on-site oxygen production scenario.
Carbonaceous adsorbents have been pointed out as promising adsorbents for the recovery of methane from its mixture with carbon dioxide, including biogas. This is because of the fact that CO2 is more strongly adsorbed and also diffuses faster compared to methane in these materials. Therefore, the present study aimed to test alternative carbonaceous materials for the gas separation process with the purpose of enriching biogas in biomethane and to compare them with the commercial one. Among them was coconut shell activated carbon (AC) as the adsorbent derived from bio-waste, rubber tire pyrolysis char (RPC) as a by-product of waste utilization technology, and carbon molecular sieve (CMS) as the commercial material. The breakthrough experiments were conducted using two mixtures, a methane-rich mixture (consisting of 75% CH4 and 25% CO2) and a carbon dioxide-rich mixture (containing 25% CH4 and 75% CO2). This investigation showed that the AC sample would be a better candidate material for the CH4/CO2 separation using a fixed-bed adsorption column than the commercial CMS sample. It is worth mentioning that due to its poorly developed micropore structure, the RPC sample exhibited limited adsorption capacity for both compounds, particularly for CO2. However, it was observed that for the methane-rich mixture, it was possible to obtain an instantaneous concentration of around 93% CH4. This indicates that there is still much potential for the use of the RPC, but this raw material needs further treatment. The Yoon–Nelson model was used to predict breakthrough curves for the experimental data. The results show that the data for the AC were best fitted with this model.
The transformation of the European energy sector is becoming a priority for the European Union. This is indicated, for instance, in the European Union strategy known as the European Green Deal. According to the Green Deal, the area of ‘research and innovation’ is one which can counteract climate change. Universities can play a significant role in this by adopting a pedagogical approach aimed at mobilizing the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship in young professionals. In addition to modifying curricula related to mining, energy, and environmental engineering, i.e., activities in recognized, traditional schemes, one prospective tool may be the involvement of students and PhD candidates in European initiatives such as the InnoEnergy PhD School (which is funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology). This paper aims to discuss the InnoEnergy PhD School programme as a possible instrument for mitigating the negative effects of energy transformation. The article analyzes the programme using a case study method, including surveys and open interviews. The paper draws attention to and highlights the role of human resources in the field of education and the stimulation of innovation, as well as the need to strengthen the business component in the education of PhD candidates.
In March 2020, rapidly spreading across the world, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 reached Poland. Since then, many efforts have been made to develop methods to forecast the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic spread and to prevent its negative consequences. In this paper, we presented one of such methods, a simplified way of building a data-driven model for predicting the daily number of new coronavirus infections. Our method is based on parameter selection of the exponentially modified Gaussian cumulative curve, where the obtained curve should describe the curve of a total of COVID-19 cases in Poland with the best possible fit. We showed that a simplified modelling approach can give good correlations between model values and actual COVID-19 cases data. By forecasting during the COVID-19 epidemic in Poland, we obtained a high enough accuracy for our model to be considered a valuable and helpful tool for making health policy.
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