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About 110 years after the Belgica expedition — a polar voyage organized by the Geographical Royal Society to establish the world’s first Antarctic scientific research program — a new, unique research station sponsored by the Belgian Federal Government has been commissioned. Inaugurated on Feb. 15 after two years of construction, the Princess Elizabeth Station (Figure 4) is the only polar base to run entirely on renewable energies.

The current Spanish electricity model is unsustainable: Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions are hard to control, demand shows no sign of weakening, and the country is overly dependent on imported fuel. These are the conclusions of a team of scientists from the Institute for Research in Technology of the University of Pontificia Comillas in Madrid, who looked at how the Spanish electricity sector would evolve in four different scenarios.

Post-consumer waste could be the newest, ubiquitous fuel source for distributed energy generation if a mobile waste-to-energy conversion system launched this January finds its way onto the parking lots of facilities that produce more than two tons of waste daily. According to its developer, Massachusetts-based IST Energy, the GEM system can process up to 3 tons of waste daily — which can include paper, plastic, food, wood, and agricultural materials — and produce up to 120 kWe and 240 kWth.

German researchers in February said they had developed the first-ever biogas plant to run purely on waste instead of edible raw materials. The team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS (Institut Keramische Technologien und Systeme) in Dresden said that the plant, which uses a fuel cell to convert the gas into electricity, exclusively uses agricultural waste such as corn stalks — and it generates 30% more biogas than conventional plants.

News items of interest to power industry professionals.

Radioactive materials are clinging to the inside walls of reactor system components because of a noble metals injection process error some years ago at Cooper Nuclear Station (CNS). CNS has launched an aggressive, long-term program to remove the materials, but until the work is successfully completed, the station is also taking extensive measures to protect employees and reduce higher source term dose.

The expanded line of CoolPoint vortex shedding flowmeters introduced recently by Universal Flow Monitors Inc. is designed to ensure flow consistency in hydroelectric generators, heat exchangers, boiler feed pumps, steam turbines, natural gas humidification, and process cooling applications where water quality may be less than optimal. Additions to the product line include four larger sizes […]

Dickson’s new stainless steel case data loggers are designed to monitor up to 275F in wet conditions. The watertight instruments are made of stainless steel and are available in three models: HT 200 (the “Takes-the-Heat-Watertight” model) and piercing probe models HT 220 and HT 225. All models are available with user-replaceable one-year batteries and USB-enabled […]

The GRAPHLON GM 860 developed by Graphite Metallizing is an abrasion-resistant bushing material that protects pumps and helps prolong pump life. Designed for use in the manufacture of pump bushings and other critical-wear parts, the tough, polymer/graphite-based material was developed to replace traditional pump materials, which are prone to damage from highly abrasive suspensions. It […]

This year’s ELECTRIC POWER Exhibition will feature the latest technologies and services from approximately 500 companies. Get a preview of some of the exhibitor offerings here. For the entire offerings, you’ll have to visit the show floor in Chicago this May. (You’ll find all the event information here.)