Plant Shutdown Research Articles

Implementation of MF block in CNN for advanced REB fault diagnosis

Rolling element bearings (REBs) are crucial components in various industrial applications. The bearing faults occur due to prolonged operation, overloading, high speed, and inadequate lubrication. A bearing failure can lead to significant downtime and huge maintenance costs for the machines. Hence, industries require condition monitoring to reduce costs. This study presents an automated detection approach for diagnosing faults in REBs using a Customized Convolutional Neural Network (C-CNN). This work focuses on vibration signals sampled at 12,800 Hz and 5120 Hz as input data to perform the fault diagnosis of bearings. Further, the Multi Feature (MF) block has been used in the architecture of the C-CNN model for better accuracy. By incorporating techniques such as batch normalization and dropout, the model has improved stability and prevented overfitting. Using the Balance Cross-Entropy (BCE) loss function for training has helped the model optimize prediction accuracy by minimizing the difference between the actual class and the predicted class probabilities. A comparison with models such as MSCNN, CNN, RF, DBN, KNN, ANN, SVM, LSTM, ResNet and SqueezeNet was carried out. The proposed C-CNN model has been found to well perform other classifiers in accurately recognizing bearing faults, achieving an excellent accuracy of 95% and 93.5% on 12,800 and 5120 Hz datasets, respectively. Statistical significance tests and error bars validate the robustness of the model’s performance. Extensive experiments were conducted to evaluate the impact of sampling frequency on diagnostic accuracy, hyperparameter tuning strategies, and model robustness under different noise levels and operating conditions. Furthermore, computational complexity analysis, including FLOPs estimation, was performed to assess real-time applicability. The findings indicate that the C-CNN approach is a reliable and efficient solution for bearing fault classification, offering significant practical implications for industrial condition monitoring systems and helping to prevent plant shutdown.

A dataset on the community impacts of deindustrialisation and COVID-19 in Australia

The Australian automotive plant closures of 2016 and 2017 led to mass retrenchment and deindustrialisation, and resulted in lasting impacts on workers, families and communities in the locations surrounding former car assembly plants. A large-scale program of research began in 2019 as a multi-university collaboration to examine the impacts of industry restructuring, including a stream of work dedicated to investigating community confidence in the economy and leadership following the closures and during the COVID-19 health crisis. This paper introduces a 2021 Community Survey dataset that encompasses these perspectives from affected communities directly surrounding the plant sites, as well as the those from the broader population of the two state capital cities in which these communities were located. This dataset is designed to aid researchers and policy makers in understanding the role of leaders during periods of crisis and industry restructuring. A total of 1,755 responses were recorded.

High-Volume Glass Powder Concrete as an Alternative to High-Volume Fly Ash Concrete

The high consumption of concrete makes it a priority target for environmental goals. When supplementary cementing materials were introduced, important progress was made toward achieving these goals, with fly ash (FA) making a major contribution in this regard. Given the current situation, it has become necessary to identify an alternative to this material as a result of the shutdown of coal-fired power plants across the European Union. In this sense, glass powder (GP) has shown promising results. This research focused on reducing the dosage of Portland cement (PC) as extensively as possible in concrete formulations, through high incorporations (until 70%) with different dosages of binder to evaluate various applications without compromising its strength and durability. The results obtained are encouraging. With only 150 kg/m3 of PC, 46.42 MPa was obtained, and with 250 kg/m3 of PC, 71.50 MPa was obtained, both at 90 days. Durability was not significantly compromised in the tests carried out and even obtained better results in some tests. The findings suggest that a substantial replacement of PC with GP could serve as a feasible option for lowering the PC content or even substituting FA, promoting a reduction in CO2 emissions and energy consumption, and making concrete more sustainable.

Unraveling varying spatiotemporal patterns of Dengue Fever and associated exposure-response relationships with environmental variables in three Southeast Asian countries before and during COVID-19.

The enforcement of COVID-19 interventions by diverse governmental bodies, coupled with the indirect impact of COVID-19 on short-term environmental changes (e.g., plant shutdowns lead to lower greenhouse gas emissions), influences the Dengue Fever (DF) vector. This provides a unique opportunity to investigate the indirect impact of COVID-19 on DF transmission and generate insights for targeted prevention measures. We aim to compare DF transmission patterns and the exposure-response relationship of environmental variables and DF incidence in the pre- and during-COVID-19 to identify variations and assess the indirect impact of COVID-19 on DF transmission. We initially visualized the overall trend of DF transmission from 2017-2022, then conducted two quantitative analyses to compare DF transmission pre-COVID-19 (2017-2019) and during-COVID-19 (2020-2022). These analyses included time series analysis to assess DF seasonality, and a Distributed Lag Non-linear Model (DLNM) to quantify the exposure-response relationship between environmental variables and DF incidence. We observed a notable surge in Singapore during-COVID-19, particularly from May to August in 2020 and 2022, with cases multiplying several times compared to pre-COVID-19. All subregions in Thailand exhibited remarkable synchrony with a similar annual trend except 2021. Cyclic patterns remained generally consistent, but seasonal variability in Singapore has become increasingly pronounced. Monthly DF incidence in three countries varied significantly. Exposure-response relationships of DF and environmental variables show varying degrees of change, notably in Northern Thailand, where the peak relative risk for the maximum temperature-DF relationship rose from about 3-17, and the max RR of overall cumulative association 0-3 months of relative humidity increased from around 4-40. Our study is the first to compare DF transmission patterns and their relationship with environmental variables before and during COVID-19, demonstrating that the pandemic has affected DF transmission and altered the exposure-response relationship at both national and regional levels.

EXPRESS: Political Uncertainty and the Timing of Mass Layoffs

This study examines the relation between political uncertainty arising from state-level election cycles and the timing of employee dismissal and plant closure notices filed by U.S. firms under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act of 1988 (hereafter, WARN notices). We appeal to a real options framework to predict that firms delay layoff decisions and the issuance of WARN notices until the resolution of political uncertainty. Using establishment-level data on layoffs disclosed in WARN notices and state elections occurring between 1994 and 2022, we document that the likelihood of issuing WARN notices declines during the election quarter but increases in the subsequent quarter. Cross-sectional findings show that political uncertainty plays a significant role in the timing of WARN notices during election periods while other factors, including partisanship, economic conditions, union strength, and firm visibility, may also play a role. Further, firms that delay WARN notices do not experience a significant deterioration in their medium-term financial performance. Overall, our findings provide evidence that firms delay labor adjustment decisions and the announcements of such decisions in response to political uncertainty.

Instrumentation, control and monitoring of a reactor for the production of biogas from agro-industrial waste using internet of things

This study involved implementing an instrumentation, control, and monitoring system to analyze a biogas production plant from agro-industrial waste. The system included temperature, level, and pressure sensors installed at various points of the process, all connected through a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) device and controlled via TIA PORTAL using proportional integral derivative (PID) control strategies. A Siemens KTP700B HMI (Human-Machine Interface) display provided real-time visualization of plant components, while the S7-1200 PLC enabled data acquisition. Power BI software was used for remote monitoring with trend graphs, ensuring comprehensive performance oversight. The system kept a stable temperature of 43 °C during the anaerobic digestion process, while pressure fluctuated between 30 to 120 PSI due to biogas production, reaching a substrate volume of 500 liters. The HMI also allowed for manual recording of critical data related to biogas production, including variations in CH4 and CO2 concentrations. Initially, methane levels were higher than those of carbon dioxide. However, during a specific phase, the CO2 concentration increased significantly, while CH4 levels decreased. This change coincided with a deliberate plant shutdown designed to assess the impact of automation. During this shutdown, temperature, feed, and pH controls were temporarily halted. Once these controls were reactivated, methane levels began to gradually increase, once again surpassing CO2 levels. Furthermore, the real-time collection of data on parameters such as temperature, pressure, pH, alkalinity, volatile fatty acids, and chemical oxygen demand allowed the timely application of corrective actions to address system disturbances effectively

Disarticulations in Naples: Cultural political ecology, the green transition, and labour unrest at a Whirlpool factory

AbstractThis article develops a cultural political ecology approach to disarticulations and labour unrest. The reference point for analysis is a struggle at a Whirlpool factory in Naples that the company announced would close in 2019, six months after signing an agreement with the Italian government, including a multi‐million investment plan. Despite experiencing continuous growth and having committed to keeping Italy as a strategic node of its EMEA production network, Whirlpool, Italy's biggest manufacturer of home appliances, has engaged in disinvestment strategies in recent years. The article documents workers' attempts to resist the plant's closure. It shows how their fight with the American multinational corporation was engrained within the temporalities of the COVID‐19 pandemic and analyses demands over the green transition that contributed to the outcome of the dispute. Conclusions suggest that the (post‐)pandemic landscape is characterised by opening cultural and political ecological spaces for labour agency, assessing implications for environmental labour studies.

Emergency mass disposal of milk: Options and considerations.

Emergency mass disposal of milk: Options and considerations.

석탄화력발전소 폐쇄에 따른 유휴 부지의 효율적 활용방안 연구: 항만과 연계한 수출입 물류 공간으로 활용

석탄화력발전소 폐쇄에 따른 유휴 부지의 효율적 활용방안 연구: 항만과 연계한 수출입 물류 공간으로 활용

Europe’s chemical industry eyes a wave of plant closures

Europe’s chemical industry eyes a wave of plant closures

Analysis of the National Air Pollutant Emissions Inventory (2021) in the Republic of Korea

In the Republic of Korea, air pollutant emissions are annually estimated and published. These emissions are used to formulate and evaluate national air quality policies. In this study, the 2021 National Air Pollutant Emissions Inventory in the Republic of Korea was estimated. In addition, emission sources and primary causes affecting changes in emissions were analyzed. As a result, air pollutant emissions in the Republic of Korea were 57,317 tons of PM-2.5, 160,993 tons of SOx, 884,454 tons of NOx, 1,002,810 tons of VOCs, and 262,008 tons of NH3. PM-2.5, SOx, and NOx emissions in 2021 were lower than those in 2020 because of the reduction policy effects, such as the shutdown of old coal-fired power plants and stricter emission standards in workplaces. However, emissions of VOCs and NH3 in 2021 increased those in 2020 due to socioeconomic effects, particularly in everyday activity sector. Specifically, it was caused by increased use of paint for construction and shipbuilding to meet rising demands as well as a rise in cattle numbers due to increased meat consumption. Spatially, Gyeonggi-do had the highest emissions of PM-2.5, NOx, and VOCs due to its dense populations and heavy traffic, while Ulsan and Chungcheongnam-do had the highest emissions of SOx and NH3 from production process in their large national industrial complexes.

Microseismicity Modulation Due To Changes in Geothermal Production at San Emidio, Nevada, USA

AbstractBrief cessations of geothermal production can induce seismicity, a phenomenon that has drawn increasing attention in recent years. Such observations are rare, and the underlying mechanism requires careful analysis. In April 2022, a dense seismic and hydrologic monitoring system was deployed at the San Emidio geothermal field, Nevada, to accompany a planned power plant shutdown. Using the dense seismic array data, we detected and located ∼1,800 microseismic events (MSEs) and developed a high‐resolution tomographic P‐wave velocity model. We observed substantially increased microseismicity during shutdown. Most MSEs occurred on pre‐existing normal faults, which are contained within extremely low‐velocity zones that are likely damaged, fluid‐filled, and hydraulically connected to nearby production wells. Hydrologic data show rapid fluid pressure increases of <60 kPa following the shutdown. We suggest that the cessation of production rapidly increased fluid pressures along pre‐existing fault zones, activating critically stressed fault patches and fractures and producing microseismicity.

Unions, fossil fuel workers, and the energy transition: learning from plant closures in Finland and the U.S.

Unions, fossil fuel workers, and the energy transition: learning from plant closures in Finland and the U.S.

Образование и развитие поселков городского типа в Западной Сибири в 1920-2010-е гг.

The purpose of this study is to characterize the process of formation and development of urban-type settlements in Western Siberia in the 1920s and 2010s. The paper examines the reasons for the allocation of the mentioned status of settlements by state authorities, traces the dynamics of their number and size over several time periods, determines the features of the development of settlements in changing political, economic and socio-cultural conditions. The scientific novelty of the study is that for the first time, based on statistical data from the population censuses for 1926, 1939, 1959, 1970, 1979, 1989, 2002, 2010, 2020 the formation rates of urban-type settlements in Western Siberia are shown, and the trajectory of their subsequent development is studied. As a result of the conducted research, it was found that the highest rates of village formation occurred during the 1930s and 1960s, which was associated with the industrialization of the country, urbanization (including artificial, purposefully carried out by the state), the construction of large industrial enterprises, and intensive development of natural resources. Since the mid-1980s, there has been a sharp decline in the rate of rural settlement formation due to deindustrialization, the closure of factories and industrial plants, and the outflow of population to cities. This led to a change in the status of urban-type settlements, some of which turned into villages or rural settlements. At the same time, the population of villages with the status of a urban-type settlements decreased, and their socio-cultural and industrial infrastructure "compressed".

Australian automotive workers and community leaders interview dataset following 2017 assembly plant closures

The Australian manufacturing sector saw the exit of the automotive industry in 2017 arising in mass retrenchment across its assembly plants and supply chain firms. In 2019, a large-scale program of research was launched to investigate the impacts of the closures on workers and community including a dedicated stream of qualitative work which took place in 2021. This work took the form of in-depth interviews that investigated the experiences of automotive workers as they underwent retrenchment, reskilling, re-employment and retirement. A further set of interviews took place in 2023 to investigate the experiences of community leaders in the areas affected by the assembly plant closures as they navigated a changing economic landscape. This dataset is designed to aid researchers and policy makers understand the complexities of individual experiences that complement the quantitative data collected during the broader program of work. In total, 73 automotive workers and 33 community leaders were interviewed.

Geochemical assessment of the suitability of converting a coal-fired power plant reservoir to a drinking-water reservoir

Blake JM, Ferguson CL, Brown JE, Mixon R. Geochemical assessment of the suitability of converting a coal-fired power plant reservoir to a drinking-water reservoir. Lake Reserv Manage. 41:41–58. There is an increasing need for additional water storage in the United States, especially in arid regions. Alternatives like decommissioned power plant raw-water reservoirs would be cheaper to use than creating new reservoirs; however, the biogeochemical pollution risk of these reservoirs is not well understood. The San Juan Generating Station power plant and the associated reservoir will be used as a sediment-settling basin to store drinking water. To evaluate whether the reservoir is appropriate for this use, inorganic and organic constituents of concern were measured in reservoir sediment cores, pore water, and reservoir water in 2020. Forty-six percent of sediment arsenic concentrations measured in core subsamples (8 to 12 mg/kg) were slightly above the New Mexico residential cancer threshold for soil of 7.07 mg/kg. One sediment sample contained elevated total barium concentrations (6020 mg/kg). The organic compounds analyzed were either below detection limits or below regulatory thresholds. Reservoir water had one sample with arsenic greater than the drinking water standard (10 µg/L). Overall, the reservoir sediment inorganic and organic analyte concentrations are within acceptable ranges. The few samples that have elevated concentrations are not of a sufficient magnitude that dilution and/or treatment processes would preclude the use of the reservoir for water storage. Our findings show potential for use of former coal power station raw-water reservoirs as drinking-water reservoirs after plant closure.

New projects and permanent plant shutdowns, 25 Nov-1 Dec 2024

New projects and permanent plant shutdowns, 25 Nov-1 Dec 2024

Impact of Heat Exchanger Fouling in Bioethanol Plants

Impact of Heat Exchanger Fouling in Bioethanol Plants

Political and economic evolution of post-unification Italy and the working conditions in the steel industry. Some case studies in the kingdom of the two Sicilies

ABSTRACT The process of Italian unification (19th century) profoundly shaped the relationship between the North and the South, leading to significant economic and social inequalities. While the official narrative celebrates the successes of unification, the South, including the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, experienced the decline of outstanding sectors such as steelmaking and shipbuilding. Centralized policies overlooked the specific characteristics of the South, leading to the collapse of promising industries like the Mongiana Foundries, once a cornerstone of Bourbon steel production. This establishment epitomizes the contradictions of Bourbon modernization: despite technological progress and relatively better working conditions compared to other European contexts, it was abandoned after unification, exacerbating the North-South divide. Working conditions, although less inhumane than in Northern Europe, were harsh: low wages, moderate exploitation, and insufficient state interventions. The closure of southern plants encouraged the concentration of industry in the North, fueling social tensions and the ‘Southern Question.’ Agriculture remained dominant, hindered by a lack of infrastructure and investment. In conclusion, the document reflects on the historical legacy of the South, suggesting that post-unification political choices were among the main causes of the region’s underdevelopment, which remain relevant to understanding Italy’s economic and social dynamics today.

The Ecological Silence: Producing Green Policies outside the Environmental Discourse

The development of the green policies of the European Union (EU) has established a framework in which national governments had to introduce environmental measures with serious social and economic consequences. The present article examines the relationship political initiative – environmental awareness – pro-environmental behavior through the prism of a specific case study related to the 2023 protests in Bulgaria against the closure of coal plants. The analysis of public attitudes and of media discourse reveals that the Bulgarian government avoided legitimizing its decisions through ecological motivations. Low levels of trust in political institutions and the perceived lack of prestige of ecological issues are shifting research attention to the barriers to pro-environmental behavior in contemporary European societies.