Journal articles on the topic 'Grate steam boiler'

This paper is a presentation of a systematic study on externally fired gas turbine cogeneration fueled by biomass. The gas turbine is coupled in series with a biomass combustion furnace in which the gas turbine exhaust is used to support combustion. Three cogeneration systems have been simulated. They are systems without a gas turbine, with a non-top-fired gas turbine, and a top-fired gas turbine. For all systems, three types of combustion equipment have been selected: circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boiler, grate fired steam boiler, and grate fired hot water boiler. The sizes of biomass furnaces have been chosen as 20 MW and 100 MW fuel inputs. The total efficiencies based on electricity plus process heat, electrical efficiencies, and the power-to-heat ratios for various alternatives have been calculated. For each of the cogeneration systems, part-load performance with varying biomass fuel input is presented. Systems with CFB boilers have a higher total efficiency and electrical efficiency than other systems when a top-fired gas turbine is added. However, the systems with grate fired steam boilers allow higher combustion temperature in the furnace than CFB boilers do. Therefore, a top combustor may not be needed when high temperature is already available. Only one low-grade fuel system is then needed and the gas turbine can operate with a very clean working medium.

Operating data of a bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) boiler and three stoker grate (SG) biomass boilers from different pulp mills were analyzed over a 2-year period. The results show that in all cases, the thermal performance decreases markedly from 5.5 to 4 lb steam/lb dry biomass as the feedstock moisture content increases from 40% to 60%. The BFB boiler had better thermal performance, although it operated in a higher moisture content range compared with the SG boilers. Multivariate analysis was also performed on one of the SG boilers to determine operating parameters that affect thermal performance. The results show that furnace temperature, oil flow rate, and induced draft fan current positively correlate with thermal performance, while the feedstock moisture content, total air flow, and excess oxygen (O2) negatively correlate with thermal performance. This implies that when making modifications to improve thermal performance, it is important to take into account correlations among various parameters. In some cases, one positively correlated parameter might cause an increase in a negatively correlated parameter. The net effect might be a decrease in thermal performance.

The successful design and operation of a fluidized bed combustor requires the ability to control and mitigate ash-related problems. The main ash-related problem of biomass filing boiler is agglomeration. The fluidized bed boiler with steam capacity of 66 t/h (4 MPa, 440 ?C) was started up at the Arkhangelsk Paper-Pi dp-Plant in 2001. This boiler was manufactured by the Russian companies "Energosofin" and "Belenergomash" and installed instead of the existing boiler with mechanical grate. Some constructional elements and steam drum of existing boiler remained unchanged. The primary air fan was installed past the common air fan, which supply part of the air into 24 secondary airports. First operating period shows that the bed material is expanded and then operator should increase the primary air rate, and the boiler efficiency dramatically decreases. Tills paper presents some results of our investigations of fuel, bed and fly ash chemical compositions and other characteristics. Special experiments were carried out to optimize the bed drain flow rate. The influence of secondly air supply improvement on mixing with the main flow and boiler efficiency are given.

Domtar’s fluff pulp mill in Plymouth, NC, USA, operates two biomass/hog fuel fired boilers (HFBs). For energy consolidation and reliability improvement, Domtar wanted to decommission the No. 1 HFB and refurbish/retrofit the No. 2 HFB. The No. 2 HFB was designed to burn pulverized coal and/or biomass on a traveling grate. The steaming capacity was 500,000 lb/h from coal and 400,000 lb/h from biomass. However, it had never sustained this design biomass steaming rate. As the sole power boiler, the No. 2 HFB would need to sustain 400,000 lb/h of biomass steam during peak loads. An extensive evaluation by a combustion and boiler technologies supplier was undertaken. The evaluation involved field testing, analysis, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling, and it identified several bottle-necks and deficiencies to achieving the No. 2 HFB’s biomass steam goal. These bottlenecks included an inadequate combustion system; insufficient heat capture; excessive combustion air temperature; inadequate sweetwater con-denser (SWC) capacity; and limited induced draft fan capacity. To address the identified deficiencies, various upgrades were engineered and implemented. These upgrades included modern pneumatic fuel distributors; a modern sidewall, interlaced overfire air (OFA) system; a new, larger economizer; modified feedwater piping to increase SWC capacity; replacement of the scrubber with a dry electro-static precipitator; and upgraded boiler controls. With the deployment of these upgrades, the No. 2 HFB achieved the targeted biomass steaming rate of 400,000 lb/h, along with lowered stack gas and combustion air temperatures. All mandated emissions limit tests at 500,000 lb/h of steam with 400,000 lb/h of biomass steam were passed, and Domtar reports a 10% reduction in fuel firing rates, which represents significant fuel savings. In addition, the mill was able to decommission the No. 1 HFB, which has substantially lowered operating and maintenance costs.

Salt-laden hog fuel (wood waste) is burnt in a fluidized bed boiler converted from a traveling grate boiler to generate steam for a specialty paper mill. The converted boiler has a design capacity of 156t∕h of steam from hog and actual generation has varied from 76% to 107% of the design capacity. The conversion has resulted in more stable operation, more complete combustion, less ash production, reduced boiler maintenance, and lower fossil fuel consumption. Tire derived fuel (TDF) is used as a supplementary fuel. With an energy content of 31GJ∕t for TDF, as compared to 8GJ∕t for wet hog, addition of 2%–5% TDF by weight increased the bed temperature by an average of 55°C, stabilized and improved the combustion of low quality hog and high moisture content sludge. The impact of TDF addition was studied in detail. Stack emissions were tested and bottom and flyash samples were analyzed. Although TDF contains an average of 1.6% zinc and 9.2% steel wire by weight, addition of TDF did not affect total particulate emissions from the boiler. SO2 emissions were increased due to the high sulfur content of TDF (1.4%), while NOx emissions were reduced. A good correlation was obtained from the test results, showing that the addition of TDF resulted in a reduction in both the total formation and the stack emissions of dioxins and furans.

Sustainability and energy efficiency have become important factors for many industrial processes, including chemical pulping. Recently complex back-end heat recovery solutions have been applied to biomass-fired boilers, lowering stack temperatures and recovering some of the latent heat of the moisture by condensation. Modern kraft recovery boiler flue gas offers still unutilized heat recovery possibilities. Scrubbers have been used, but the focus has been on gas cleaning; heat recovery implementations remain simple. The goal of this study is to evaluate the potential to increase the power generation and efficiency of chemical pulping by improved back-end heat recovery from the recovery boiler. Different configurations of heat recovery schemes and different heat sink options are considered, including heat pumps. IPSEpro simulation software is used to model the boiler and steam cycle of a modern Nordic pulp mill. When heat pumps are used to upgrade some of the recovered low-grade heat, up to +23 MW gross and +16.7 MW net power generation increase was observed when the whole pulp mill in addition to the boiler and steam cycle is considered as heat consumer. Combustion air humidification proved to yield a benefit only when assuming the largest heat sink scenario for the pulp mill.

This article is focused on optimization of fundamental utility properties and technological process of advanced low alloy steel 15NiCuMoNb5 used for power engineering mainly for production of large capacity steam boilers. Consequently problem critical locality in weld after post weld heat treatment is studied. Optimization of welding technology is proposed. Fracture behaviour of welded joint made from boiler plates 80 mm in thickness of 15NiCuMoNb5 type steel after N + T PWHT regime after welding procedure were studied. Stable crack growth measurement and evaluation of fracture toughness of base material as well as weld metal in temperature region from 0 up 350°C were carried out. Unstable cleavage fracture and fracture toughness KJc of both parts of welded joint at test temperatures cover the transition region were evaluated. The reference temperature T0 approach was used for evaluation of temperature dependence of fracture toughness in transition range.

Conventional tensile test methods are used for service exposed high temperature boiler tubes to evaluate the deterioration in mechanical properties such as tensile strength, yield strength and percentage elongation. The mechanical properties are required to be evaluated periodically as the boiler components undergo material degradation due to aging phenomena. The aging phenomena occurs due to continuous exposure of tubes to high temperature & pressure steam prevailing inside the tubes and high temperature exposure to corrosive combustible gases from the external surfaces within the boiler.A recent developed new technique called small punch testing has been used to evaluate the tensile properties of SA 213T22 grade steel predominantly exists in super-heater and re-heater sections of boiler. The small punch tests have been carried out on the miniature disk shaped specimens of diameter of 8.0 mm and 0.5 mm thickness extracted from both the new and service exposed tubes. Conventional uniaxial tensile tests on standard specimens from the same tube material have also been performed for comparison. The service exposed tubes showed considerable loss in mechanical properties in both the conventional and small punch test results. Correlations of tensile properties have been obtained based on the comparative analysis of both small punch and uniaxial tensile test results. Further, the study showed that an appropriate empirical relation could be generated for new and service exposed materials between both the techniques. Conventional test methods require large quantity of material removal for test samples from in-service components whereas small punch test method needs only a miniature sample extraction. This small punch test technique could also be extended to evaluate the thicker section boiler components such as pipelines and headers in the boiler as a part of remaining life assessment study. Also this technique could be a useful tool to any metallic component where large quantity of sample removal may be difficult or may not be feasible.

Abstract Superheater is for generating superheated steam from the saturated steam from the evaporator outlet. In the case of pulverized coal fired boiler, a relatively small amount of ash causes problems with ash fouling on the heating surfaces, including the superheaters. In the convection pass of the boiler, the flue gas temperature is lower and ash deposits can be loose or sintered. Ash fouling not only reduces heat transfer from the flue gas to the steam, but also is the cause of a higher pressure drop on the flue gas flow path. In the case the pressure drop is greater than the power consumed by the fan increases. If the superheater surfaces are covered with ash than the steam temperature at the outlet of the superheater stages falls, and the flow rates of the water injected into attemperator should be reduced. There is also an increase in flue gas temperature after the different stages of the superheater. Consequently, this leads to a reduction in boiler efficiency. The paper presents the results of computational fluid dynamics simulations of the first stage superheater of both the boiler OP-210M using the commercial software. The temperature distributions of the steam and flue gas along the way they flow together with temperature of the tube walls and temperature of the ash deposits will be determined. The calculated steam temperature is compared with measurement results. Knowledge of these temperatures is of great practical importance because it allows to choose the grade of steel for a given superheater stage. Using the developed model of the superheater to determine its degree of ash fouling in the on-line mode one can control the activation frequency of steam sootblowers.

Co-combustion of biomass or waste together with a base fuel in a boiler is a simple and economically suitable way to replace fossil fuels by biomass and to utilize waste. Co-combustion in a high-efficiency power station means utilization of biomass and waste with a higher thermal efficiency than what otherwise had been possible. Due to transport limitations, the additional fuel will only supply a minor part (less than a few hundreds MW fuel) of the energy in a plant. There are several options: co-combustion with coal in pulverized or fluidized bed boilers, combustion on added grates inserted in pulverized coal boilers, combustors for added fuel coupled in parallel to the steam circuit of a power plant, external gas producers delivering its gas to replace an oil, gas or pulverized fuel burner. Furthermore biomass can be used for reburning in order to reduce NO emissions or for afterburning to reduce N2O emissions in fluidized bed boilers. Combination of fuels can give rise to positive or negative synergy effects, of which the best known are the interactions between S, Cl, K, Al, and Si that may give rise to or prevent deposits on tubes or on catalyst surfaces, or that may have an influence on the formation of dioxins. With better knowledge of these effects the positive ones can be utilized and the negative ones can be avoided.

In this article the research of prospects of use of low-grade brown coal of the Talovsky Deposit of the Tomsk region as fuel for local power is carried out. The study is carried out by checking calculations of the steam boiler BKZ–220–100. The result of the study is to obtain data on the parameters of the boiler during the combustion of brown talovsky coal as the main fuel, as well as in a mixture with natural gas or Kuznetsk coal.

In the third part of this article, an attempt is made to expand the range of regulation of the steam generator load from 40% to 100% by injecting recirculating flue gases taken after the water economizer into the middle radiation part of the furnace. For this, verification thermal calculations of the boiler were carried out when burning ДГ-100 coal in a wide range of variation of the recirculation coefficient Krec = 10−20% at loads of 40% and 50% of the nominal. It is shown that: a) at a load of 50%, recirculation of flue gases Krec = 13 % leads to a drop in the steam temperature along the primary path, due to which the maximum wall temperatures of all-welded screens decrease, which makes it possible to reduce the cost of boiler manufacture by reducing the use of expensive austenitic steels by 116.3 t; b) to ensure a live steam temperature of 600 °С at a load of 40%, it is necessary that Krec = 12%. This leads to a rise in the cost of the boiler in comparison with the load of 50% due to the use of steel grade 10X16N16V2MBR in the manufacture of ceiling screens. Bibl. 3, Fig. 17, Tab. 4.

11/4Cr1/2Mo3/4Si (T11) and 21/4Cr1Mo (T22) grade steels are extensively used in critical parts of sub-critical thermal power plants like superheater, reheater tubes or headers. The tubes are designed to last for a very long time in service. These tubes are exposed to hot flue gas on the outer side and consequently, the inner side heats the steam passing through the tube. The outlet temperature of the steam ranges from 500-550°C. Therefore, not only the temperature on the outer side is much higher than the steam outlet but also the environment which the tube faces is extremely corrosive thereby leading to hot corrosion/ fireside corrosion. Some parts of the tubes are also exposed to fly ash coming from the combustion of coal leading to the formation of deposits on the tubes. In the present work, the tubes are cut and taken out during overhaul shutdowns and they are characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) for the likely phases that are formed on the surface of the fireside corroded layer. The deposits/scales are also qualitatively characterized. The cross-sections of the tubes are used for characterization of fireside corroded product layers using Optical Microscopy and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) coupled with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS). This work will be extended further to develop rate laws and rate mechanisms of the corrosion product layers formed on the service exposed tubes.

The thermal power plants (TPP) make a basis of power-generation industry of the majority of countries. The global growth of power consumption and the policy of energy-saving demand to increase the efficiency of plants operation, which is, among others, determined by the technical level of steam-generating units. The up-to-date digital technologies make it possible to assess the efficiency of boiler furnace operation at the stage of boiler unit designing, its reconstruction or retrofitting and upgrading. Developed in the article are the algorithm, mathematic model and computer program of calculating diffusion-kinetic process of combustion of D-grade Donetsk coal in the coal-dust flame of boiler Е-230-14,0-520. The assigned tasks have been solved by using theoretical methods of analysis, the capabilities of devices of computer-aided calculations have utilized for visualization of results. The considered digital approach to solving technical tasks makes it possible to meet the current and future challenges.

Water wall tube is one of a boiler components which has a function to transform water to be vapour so that it is normally called steam generating tubes. Any failure on wall tube will affect to the whole boiler system. Â The purpose of this research is to find out root cause of failure of wall tube in order to avoid similar case in the future. Â Research is conducted by examining and testing the specimens on all aspects including visual, fractography, metallography, chemical analysis, hardness test and tensile test. Examination on the fracture surface by fractographic method found the evidence of fatigue fracture with the presence of beachmark. Another examination on uninstalled boiler tube shows indication of fabrication defect and trans-granular cracks which allowed corrosive agent infiltrated into the microstructure of the tube. However, the result of chemical analysis and tensile test indicated that the tubes investigated are in accordance with ASTM A 210 Grade C specifications. Therefore, the failure of the tube is not caused by wrong material selection, but through the combination of fatigue fracture and corrosion attack where initiated at fabrication defect that acted as stress raisers.

In East Java, the production of clove leaf oil refinement is developed by businesses owned by rural people. The processing operation is simple and start-up investment is low. The clove leaf oil manufacturing procedure uses old leaves that fall naturally in the dry season, these are found to be better preserved, mature and environmentally friendly. East Java rural distillers use a single boiler for steam, water and raw materials in order for the investment costs to remain low. This study aimed to research the use of appropriate technology for the clove leaf distillation process and how to increase clove oil both in yield and quality. Two different tests were conducted; introducing a leaf crusher as a raw material and replace the old chamber material with stainless steel. There are three grades of raw materials; rough leaves, smooth leaves, and non-crushed leaves. After the clove leaves were crushed, they are distilled in the new stainless steel boiler with an aim to compare the oil yield and quality. The result from the crushed leaves treatment indicates there are different volume condensates produced from the same volume of raw materials, 128.2 litres from smooth grade and 117.2 litres from rough grade leaves. The highest percentage of clove oil (15.07%) results from rough grade crushed leaves. By replacing the chamber material with stainless steel positively affects the brightness of the clove oil. In conclusion, these two tests, to improve appropriate technology for clove oil production, can increase both yield and oil brightness, and subsequently improve the competitive advantage and future aspiration of the product.

This article discusses about power station, the Nucla Station, Nucla. This station meant a new fuel source and a major upgrade of the coal handling system, to trim production costs and enable the plant to process more of a lower-grade fuel. Nucla had the modest beginnings in the Rural Electrification Authority program, when Colorado Ute constructed it in 1959. The station had three stoker-fired boilers, each serving a 12-MW steam turbine. The plant provided reliable power to a scenic, but remote area on the western slope of Colorado. A primary advantage of AFBC technology is its ability to use lower-grade fuels that would perform poorly in other boilers. Tri-State reviewed Nucla’s fuel requirements and potential sources. The plant was trucking in coal from more than 100 miles away, which added a considerable cost. This expense could be trimmed if a local coal source was available. The combination of a new, cheaper source of fuel and a better, more economical coal handling system now enables the 40-year-old Nucla Station to thrive as a competitive power generator.

The preventive pre-treatment of low grade solid fuels is safer, faster, better, and less costly vs. the "end-of-the-pipe" post treatment solutions. The "3R" (Recycle-Reduce-Reuse) integrated environment control technology provides preventive pre-treatment of low grade solid fuels, such as brown coal and contaminated solid fuels to achieve high grade cleansed fuels with anthracite and coke comparable quality. The goal of the 3R technology is to provide cost efficient and environmentally sustainable solutions by preventive pre-treatment means for extended operations of the solid fuel combustion power plants with capacity up to 300 MWe power capacities. The 3R Anthracite Clean Coal end product and technology may advantageously be integrated to the oxyfuel-oxy-firing, Foster Wheeler anthracite arc-fired utility type boiler and Heat Pipe Reformer technologies in combination with CO2 capture and storage programs. The 3R technology is patented original solution. Advantages. Feedstock flexibility: application of pre-treated multi fuels from wider fuel selection and availability. Improved burning efficiency. Technology flexibility: efficient and advantageous inter-link to proven boiler technologies, such as oxyfuel and arcfired boilers. Near zero pollutants for hazardous-air-pollutants: preventive separation of halogens and heavy metals into small volume streams prior utilization of cleansed fuels. >97% organic sulphur removal achieved by the 3R thermal pre-treatment process. Integrated carbon capture and storage (CCS) programs: the introduction of monolitic GHG gas is improving storage safety. The 3R technology offers significant improvements for the GHG CCS conditions. Cost reduction: decrease of overall production costs when all real costs are calculated. Improved safety: application of preventive measures. For pre-treatment a specific purpose designed, developed, and patented pyrolysis technology used, consisting of a horizontally arranged externally heated rotary kiln. The flexible operation provides wide range of 25 to 125% of nominal capacities. The volatile hazardous air pollutants are safely removed in the reduced volume of gas-vapour stream and burned out in the post burner at 850 ?C2s ? 50 ?C, while the Clean Coal solid end product is utilized for clean energy production. "Product like" pilot plant with >100 kg/h through-put capacity has been built and successfully tested in Hungary in 2005. The 3R anthracite Clean Coal technology opens new technological and economical opportunities for solid fuel power generation with sustainable near zero emission performance and safe CCS operations. The 3R technology provides revolutionary solution for climate impact prevention, protection and preservation by safety improvement of the optimized GHG storage conditions. Achievable goal: safe CCS with zero emission seepage. The input 3R CO2 for CCS geological structure injection is clean, low in volume and high in concentration, all in order to optimize the "once for all" stabilized chemical fixation of the CO2, to the mineral matrix. .

Landfill gas (LFG) is a mixture of gases mainly CH4 and CO2 which are the most problematic of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) due primarily to their highest rate of accumulation in the environment. These two main GHGs are emitted from most landfills in developing countries. As a mitigation measure, the gases can be collected and utilized as renewable energy source. This research therefore aimed at planning the utilization of LFG for renewable energy production using linear programing approach executed in general algebraic modeling system (GAMS) and applied to Seelong landfill in Johor, Malaysia as the case study. GAMS (the optimizer) selects the most profitable LFG utilization technology from a number of options such as: gas engine, gas turbine and steam turbine for electricity or combined heat and power production; steam boiler for steam production; direct LFG distribution to residences/industries as substitutes to natural gas. The results from the optimizer gave a maximum profit of USD2.54 million per year. This included revenues from product sale and carbon credit. The results also revealed that GHG reduction of about 9,000 tons CO2eq were accomplished, and thus this is environmentally and economically beneficial environmentally (in terms of carbon credit). Furthermore, the optimization results revealed that steam turbine running on low grade LFG is the most feasible option in terms of profitability and environmental consideration. This approach can be applied to any sanitary landfill as a means of simultaneously curbing GHG emission and generating revenue.

The present investigation portrays the tube failure in the superheater used in the power plants. The failure occurred after only three months of operation, by longitudinal fish-mouth rupture. The operating pressure of the object boiler is 192 bar while the temperature of its superheater steam is 540 °C. The failed tubes were fabricated from standard Si killed carbon steel. Many longitudinal parallel fine crack-like grooves were detected at the outer surface of the rupture area. Metallurgical examinations revealed that the failed tube remained subjected to overheating for the short-term. According to the analysis of the failed tubes, the temperature reached over 600 °C by insufficient coolant flow or unpredicted operating conditions. The carbon steel emerged as an underperforming material for the applications in superheater tubes, and it is highly recommended to replace the carbon steel by a high-grade Cr-Mo steel.

Phosphorus has been identified as a critical element by the European Union and recycling efforts are increasingly common. An important phosphorus-containing waste stream for recycling is municipal sewage sludge (MSS), which is used directly as fertilizer to farmland. However, it contains pollutants such as heavy metals, pharmaceutical residues, polychlorinated bi-phenyls (PCBs) and nano-plastics. The interest in combustion of MSS is continuously growing, as it both reduces the volume as well as destroys the organic materials and could separate certain heavy metals from the produced ashes. This results in ashes with a potential for either direct use as fertilizer or as a suitable feedstock for upgrading processes. The aim of this study was to investigate co-combustion of MSS and biomass to create a phosphorus-rich bottom ash with a low heavy metal content. A laboratory-scale fixed-bed reactor in addition to an 8 MWth grate-boiler was used for the experimental work. The concentration of phosphorus and selected heavy metals in the bottom ashes were compared to European Union regulation on fertilizers, ash application to Swedish forests and Swedish regulations on sewage sludge application to farmland. Element concentrations were determined by ICP-AES complemented by analysis of spatial distribution with SEM-EDS and XRD analysis to determine crystalline compounds. The results show that most of the phosphorus was retained in the bottom ash, corresponding to 9–16 wt.% P2O5, while the concentration of cadmium, mercury, lead and zinc was below the limits of the regulations. However, copper, chromium and nickel concentrations exceeded these standards.

After development of the well-known T/P91 steel grade in the early 80’s and its long industrial experience since early 90’s, it has been necessary to develop new martensitic creep resistant steels to answer the demand of the power generation industry. New USC (ultra-super critical) boilers require materials with advanced creep properties to reach severe steam parameters. Addition of W to the steel has been found by many researches to be effective to increase creep rupture strength at high temperatures and already used in some developed steel grades such as T/P92, T/P122 and AISI 422 for the USC boilers. Recently, long-term creep strength of the advanced high Cr ferritic steels has been argued regarding the instability of their microstructures at high temperatures over 600 °C. This microstructural instability seems to be enhanced with increasing Cr content or with substitution of Mo by W in the steels. The aim of this paper is concentrated on the investigation of the microstructural development of the studied steel using the Jominy end-face quench test. Different hardness profiles from this test were introduced.

An old Turkish aphorism tells one to ‘‘eat sweetly and speak sweetly”. Sweets have always been an important component of the Turkish cuisine. The origin of Turkish delight (lokum) dates back to the time of the Ottoman. The beginning of the production of lokum is estimated to be in the 14th and 15th centuries, and its production had reached today’s form in the 19th century. Sour cherry is high in phenolic substances and anthocyanin compounds, which are important for human health. Lokumproduced with sour cherry and black grape syrups has antioxidant activity not been produced yet by adding fruit concentrates. A lokum rich in polyphenol and antioxidant compounds can be produced using with some special fruit concentrates. Lokum is produced by mixing sugar and some water in certain fractions, and by adding fruits or nuts to the mixture. After dissolving the sugar in water and then adding the starch milk, a temperature of about 40°C is set, then 30 g citric acid is added and finally, the cooking time is started. After the mixture started to boil, the steam fan of the boiler is operated. The sour cherry and black grape syrups are added into the mixture could make the product healthier. This mixture is heated for a certain time at a certain temperature in an open vessel or steam jacketed tank with an agitator. Cooking time is changed from 1 to 2 h according to the vessel’s type. Hot lokum fluid is dripped onto a wooden table or steel tray which has some starch on it. Then thelokum is left to ripen for 24 hours at room temperature. Lastly, the lokum samples are manually cut and then going to be packed, then it is marketed.

Due to the depletion of high-grade fuels and for economic reasons, use of residual fuel oil in energy generation systems is a common practice. Residual fuel oil contains sodium, vanadium, and sulphur as impurities, as well as NaCl contamination. Metallic dissolution caused by molten vanadates has been classically considered the main corrosion process involved in the degradation of alloys exposed to the combustion products of heavy fuel oils. Iron and nickel base alloys are the commercial alloys commonly used for the high temperature applications, for example, manufacture of components used in aggressive environments of gas turbines, steam boilers, and so forth. Therefore, because the main constituents of these materials are Fe, Cr, and Ni, where Cr is the element responsible for providing the corrosion resistance, in this study the electrochemical performance of Fe, Cr, and Ni in NaVO3at 700°C in static air for 100 hours was evaluated.

<p>Equipments used in industry process and migas is generally designed from alloy of steel which hold up to high temperature and attack corrosion. Based on that, it’s require to be conducted an material operation and election, like a component Boiler that is Secondary Superheater is generally weared by pipe from alloy of steel material Cr- Mo or steel with Austenitik type.<br />To know the damage of Secondary Superheater tube 2" material, can be conducted by a chemical composition analysis, test inspection metalografi and hardness. The damage of Material Secondary Superheater tube 2" at the extension las elbow in the form of rip on second potition (ASTM SA - 192) representing a militant low strength carbon material pipe, while on the first potition which there are not pipe material damage representing a militant high strength carbon (ASTM SA - 106 grade C) which a different thick each other. Attenuating showed the thick degradation which possible because of local stream turbulensi warm-up existence and which is high enough, this matter is shown with existence</p>

Ash behavior is a key operational aspect of industrial-scale power generation by means of biomass combustion. In this work, FactSageTM 6.4 software was used to develop and assess three models of wheat straw combustion in a vibrating grate-fired commercial boiler of 16 MWth, aiming to describe the inorganic elements release as well as fly ash melting behavior and composition. Simulations were carried out solving four consecutive calculation stages corresponding to the main plant sections. Chemical fractionation was adopted in order to distinguish between reactive, inert and partially reactive biomass fractions. The developed models allow take into account different levels of partial reactivity, values of the temperature for each sub-stage on the grate, and ways to apply entrained streams based on data from the elemental analyses of the fly ashes. To this end, two one-week experimental campaigns were conducted in the plant to carry out the sampling. It has been found that considering chemical fractionation is indispensable to describe the entrainment of solid particles in the gas stream. In addition, the best results are obtained by adopting a small reactivity (2%) of the inert fraction. As for fly ash composition, the concentrations of the major elements showed good agreement with the results from the chemical analyses. In the case of S and Cl, calculations revealed a match with gas cooling effects in the superheaters as well as an entrainment effect. The melting behavior together with the presence of KCl and K2SO4 condensates, point out at possible corrosion phenomena in walls at temperatures of 700–750 °C.

This survey represents a review of current knowledge concerning nickel and its compounds in the Finnish environment. Nickel, a naturally occurring element, is ubiquitous in the environment, especially in the divalent state. It was identified in the middle of the 18th century and its extraction process developed in the middle of the 19th century. In Finland, primary nickel production takes place by the direct high-grade nickel matte flash smelting process. Domestic production of nickel increased from 16 900 t in 1990 to 35 285 t in 1997. As a result of its versatile properties, more than 300 000 end-use applications of nickel have been reported. Its major use in Finland is in the production of stainless steel. In 1996 the release of nickel from industrial sources in Finland was as follows: 47 t to the atmosphere, 19 t to the aquatic environment, and 150 t to landfills and soils. The highest emissions stemmed from fuel-fired utility boilers. Nickel emissions to the atmosphere from the Harjavalta nickel smelter decreased from 7 t in 1993 to 1.2 t in 1996 as a result of technological developments and better gas cleaning equipment. In this study, nickel in the air, stream waters, soils, and lake and river sediments have been examined. It is noted that the background concentration of nickel in the air is about 0.5 ng·m-3, and nickel in stream water varies from 0.14 to 4.0 µg·L-1. There was no significant change of nickel concentration in arable lands between 1974 and 1987. In addition, nickel concentrations in terrestrial and aquatic species in Finland have been touched upon.Key words: nickel, occurrence, emissions, uses, Finnish environment.

South Africa has abundant supply of coal, about half being used in generation of electricity. Use of low grade high ash coal results in about 25% leaving boilers as PFA but ESP's lowers quantity emitted to air considerably. Lower sulphur coal increases ash resistivity, inhibiting precipitator effectiveness. Various solutions tested by Eskom through the 80's include electrical improvements and ash modification. S03 injection equipment is effective at two Eskom stations in reducing dust emission to acceptable levels. General perception of poor dust emission is a stack that has visible emission. This could be a subjective view without real basis. Gas emissions include vast volumes of SOX and NOx, with no steps taken to attenuate. Then is obviously a difference between high level and pound level phenomena. It was previously assumed that emission of pollutants via tall stacks above inversion layers into the jet-stream would avoid pollution problems. This does not appear in practice to have resulted, as low level haze appears to be increasing and impact of high level gas emission is now being investigated. Installation of gas removal plant may help the air quality, but may be unaffordable. Greater demands for wealth and jobs results in greater industrialisation, with accompanying pollution products. Also, provision of living wages and housing scheme benefits has seen development of whole new black residential areas where coal is not burned, giving clean air living areas for these people and their neighbours.

Physical experiments allow to obtain maximum information on a studied process at minimal cost, ensuring its higher accuracy comparing with data, obtained by mathematical simulation and avoiding risks, which can occur at industrial testing of new technological modes. Results of studies of deformation in the process of pipes production by extrusion presented. The studies were accomplished at laboratory test units, developed by specialists of the laboratory of drawing and extrusion of JSC “RusNITI”. One of the basic problems at pipes production by extrusion is ensuring minimal possible wall non-uniform thickness. It was noted that the relation between plunger die moving speeds during sleeve pressing-out and immediate pipe extrusion has a significant effect on pipe wall non-uniform thickness. Computer simulation of the pipe extrusion process, accomplished by application QForm program shown that minimal values of wall non-uniform thickness corresponded to relation abovementioned speeds as 0.5–0.8. To check the data, a physical simulation of extrusion process of lead cylinder samples, having outside diameter of 18.94 mm and wall thickness 5.19–5.32 mm was accomplished. For the extrusion, a universal servohydraulic system of dynamic test Shimadzu Servopulser was used. Within the physical experiment a dependence was established between pipe wall non-uniform thickness on relation between speeds of pressing-out and extrusion. The revealed regularity was confirmed during pilot production of a pipe lot at the 55 MN force extrusion line. Another physical simulation of extrusion of 10.0×2.0 mm pipe-samples made of C1 grade lead was accomplished with one- and twothread helical ribbing of internal surface. For its accomplishment an experimental module was designed and manufactured. It was established that rotation speed of the extrusion mandrel had no significant effect on extrusion force. Metallographic studies shown that the extrusion mandrel rotation speed contributes to considerable increase of pipes surface hardness and obtaining finer grain comparing with the classic extrusion method. The technical ability of pipes production with internal helical ribbing by hot extrusion method was confirmed. The results of the study became a base for elaboration of a technology of pipes production at Volzhsky pipe plant according to ТУ 14-3Р-157–2018 “Steel seamless hot-extruded pipes with helical ribbing of internal surface for steam boilers”. Results of physical simulation of pipe drawing process at self-adjusting mandrel with application of lubricant materials of various viscosity. The data obtained were used for elaboration of a technology for production of cold-deformed pipes with internal diameter of 6.0–12.0 mm at Sinarsky pipe plant.

Abstract Grade 91 steel is widely used as steam pipes in ultrasupercritical (USC) steam boilers. In residual creep life assessment of the pipes by calculation, one needs creep rupture life of the steel as a function of stress and temperature in a time range longer than 105 h. Four regions with different creep rupture characteristics appear in a stress versus creep rupture life diagram of the steel. Main steam pipes made of the steel are used in a long-term region with low values of stress exponent and activation energy for creep rupture life (referred to as region G in this paper). Creep rupture lives of the steel in this region vary from heat to heat depending on their prior austenite grain size. This paper proposes a grain size-dependent equation representing creep rupture life of the steel in region G. The equation is verified with creep rupture data up to 232,833 h at 600 °C. Region G is absent in some heats with a large grain size. The equation can rationalize the absence in the heats. In a stress versus creep rupture life diagram of grade 92 steel, there is the same long-term region G. In the region, a creep rupture life of each heat is dependent on its grain size as is the case in grade 91 steel. The proposed equation accords well with the creep rupture lives of the grade 92 steel in region G.

The boiler tube components in thermal power plants and steam generating systems suffer from erosion and corrosion problems and are even today posturing a grave threat to industries, resulting in forced outages. Unrelenting efforts to decrease the components’ maintenance costs have been made by protecting with coatings. Among the various coating methodologies are thermal spray, chemical vapour deposition (CVD), physical vapour deposition (PVD), etc., in vogue. However, recently, the additive manufacturing-based cold spray technique is gaining interest among material scientists, incorporating high-velocity impacts associated with the low-temperature regime. Nickel-based superalloy Inconel 625 has been chosen and cold sprayed on The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) T11 and T22 boiler steels. The coated surface is characterized by scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX), X-ray diffraction, micro-hardness, and elemental X-ray mapping techniques. The solid particle erosion studies have been carried out both at room and an elevated temperature of 700 °C as per American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standard for 30°C and 90 °C impact angles. An optical profilometer has been used to evaluate the erosion volume loss. The results showed that the coated samples exhibit superior erosion resistance than the uncoated samples at both room and elevated temperatures. The erosion data obtained have been substantiated using scanning electron microscopy by analyzing the damage features and correlating with the erosion data.

Introduction Special occasion cookery has been a staple of the cookbook writing in the English speaking Western world for decades. This includes providing catering for personal milestones as well as religious and secular festivals. Yet, in an era when the culinary publishing sector is undergoing considerable expansion and market segmentation, narratives of foods marking of one of life’s central and inescapable rites—death—are extremely rare. This discussion investigates examples of food writing related to death and funeral rites in contemporary cookbooks. Funeral feasts held in honour of the dead date back beyond recorded history (Luby and Gruber), and religious, ceremonial and community group meals as a component of funeral rites are now ubiquitous around the world. In earlier times, the dead were believed to derive both pleasure and advantage from these offerings (LeClercq), and contemporary practice still reflects this to some extent, with foods favoured by the deceased sometimes included in such meals (see, for instance, Varidel). In the past, offering some sustenance as a component of a funeral was often necessary, as mourners might have travelled considerable distances to attend the ceremony, and eateries outside the home were not as commonplace or convenient to access as they are today. The abundance and/or lavishness of the foods provided may also have reflected the high esteem in which the dead was held, and offered as a mark of community respect (Smith and Bird). Following longstanding tradition, it is still common for Western funeral attendees to gather after the formal parts of the event—the funeral service and burial or cremation —in a more informal atmosphere to share memories of the deceased and refreshments (Simplicity Funerals 31). Thursby notes that these events, which are ostensibly about the dead, often develop into a celebration of the ties between living family members and friends, “times of reunions and renewed relationships” (94). Sharing food is central to this celebration as “foods affirm identity, strengthen kinship bonds, provide comfortable and familiar emotional support during periods of stress” (79), while familiar dishes evoke both memories and promising signals of the continued celebration of life” (94). While in the southern states and some other parts of the USA, it is customary to gather at the church premises after the funeral for a meal made up of items contributed by members of the congregation, and with leftovers sent home with the bereaved family (Siegfried), it is more common in Australasia and the UK to gather either in the home of the principal mourners, someone else’s home or a local hotel, club or restaurant (Jalland). Church halls are a less common option in Australasia, and an increasing trend is the utilisation of facilities attached to the funeral home and supplied as a component of a funeral package (Australian Heritage Funerals). The provision of this catering largely depends on the venue chosen, with the cookery either done by family and/or friends, the hotel, club, restaurant or professional catering companies, although this does not usually affect the style of the food, which in Australia and New Zealand is often based on a morning or afternoon tea style meal (Jalland). Despite widespread culinary innovation in other contexts, funeral catering bears little evidence of experimentation. Ash likens this to as being “fed by grandmothers”, and describes “scones, pastries, sandwiches, biscuits, lamingtons—food from a fifties afternoon party with the taste of Country Women’s Association about it”, noting that funerals “require humble food. A sandwich is not an affront to the dead” (online). Numerous other memoirists note this reliance on familiar foods. In “S is for Sad” in her An Alphabet for Gourmets (1949), food writer M.F.K. Fisher writes of mourners’s deep need for sustenance at this time as a “mysterious appetite that often surges in us when our hearts seem breaking and our lives too bleakly empty” (135). In line with Probyn’s argument that food foregrounds the viscerality of life (7), Fisher notes that “most bereaved souls crave nourishment more tangible than prayers: they want a steak. […] It is as if our bodies, wiser than we who wear them, call out for encouragement and strength and […] compel us […] to eat” (135, 136). Yet, while funerals are a recurring theme in food memoirs (see, for example, West, Consuming), only a small number of Western cookbooks address this form of special occasion food provision. Feast by Nigella Lawson Nigella Lawson’s Feast: Food that Celebrates Life (2004) is one of the very few popular contemporary cookbooks in English that includes an entire named section on cookery for funerals. Following twenty-one chapters that range from the expected (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and wedding) to more original (children’s and midnight) feasts, Lawson frames her discussion with an anthropological understanding of the meaning of special occasion eating. She notes that we use food “to mark occasions that are important to us in life” (vii) and how eating together “is the vital way we celebrate anything that matters […] how we mark the connections between us, how we celebrate life” (vii). Such meals embody both personal and group identities because both how and what is eaten “lies at the heart of who we are-as individuals, families, communities” (vii). This is consistent with her overall aims as a food writer—to explore foods’ meanings—as she states in the book’s introduction “the recipes matter […] but it is what the food says that really counts” (vii). She reiterates this near the end of the book, adding, almost as an afterthought, “and, of course, what it tastes like” (318). Lawson’s food writing also reveals considerable detail about herself. In common with many other celebrity chefs and food writers, Lawson continuously draws on, elaborates upon, and ultimately constructs her own life as a major theme of her works (Brien, Rutherford, and Williamson). In doing so, she, like these other chefs and food writers, draws upon revelations of her private life to lend authenticity to her cooking, to the point where her cookbooks could be described as “memoir-illustrated-with-recipes” (Brien and Williamson). The privileging of autobiographical information in Lawson’s work extends beyond the use of her own home and children in her television programs and books, to the revelation of personal details about her life, with the result that these have become well known. Her readers thus know that her mother, sister and first and much-loved husband all died of cancer in a relatively brief space of time, and how these tragedies affected her life. Her first book, How to Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food (1998), opened with the following dedication: “In memory of my mother, Vanessa (1936–1985) and my sister Thomasina (1961–1993)” (dedication page). Her husband, BBC broadcaster and The Times (London) journalist John Diamond, who died of throat cancer in 2001, furthered this public knowledge, writing about both his illness and at length about Lawson in his column and his book C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too (1999). In Feast, Lawson discusses her personal tragedies in the introduction of the ‘Funeral Foods’ chapter, writing about a friend's kind act of leaving bags of shopping from the supermarket for her when she was grieving (451). Her first recipe in this section, for a potato topped fish pie, is highly personalised in that it is described as “what I made on the evening following my mother’s funeral” (451). Following this, she again uses her own personal experience when she notes that “I don’t think anyone wants to cook in the immediate shock of bereavement […] but a few days on cooking can be a calming act, and since the mind knows no rest and has no focus, the body may as well be busy” (451). Similarly, her recipe for the slowly hard-boiled, dark-stained Hamine Eggs are described as “sans bouche”, which she explains means “without mouths to express sorrow and anguish.” She adds, drawing on her own memories of feelings at such times, “I find that appropriate: there is nothing to be said, or nothing that helps” (455). Despite these examples of raw emotion, Lawson’s chapter is not all about grief. She also comments on both the aesthetics of dishes suitable for such times and their meanings, as well as the assistance that can be offered to others through the preparation and sharing of food. In her recipe for a lamb tagine that includes prunes, she notes, for example, that the dried plums are “traditionally part of the funeral fare of many cultures […] since their black colour is thought to be appropriate to the solemnity of the occasion” (452). Lawson then suggests this as a suitable dish to offer to someone in mourning, someone who needs to “be taken care of by you” (452). This is followed by a lentil soup, the lentils again “because of their dark colour … considered fitting food for funerals” (453), but also practical, as the dish is “both comforting and sustaining and, importantly, easy to transport and reheat” (453). Her next recipe for a meatloaf containing a line of hard-boiled eggs continues this rhetorical framing—as it is “always comfort food […] perfect for having sliced on a plate at a funeral tea or for sending round to someone’s house” (453). She adds the observation that there is “something hopeful and cheering about the golden yolk showing through in each slice” (453), noting that the egg “is a recurring feature in funeral food, symbolising as it does, the cycle of life, the end and the beginning in one” (453). The next recipe, Heavenly Potatoes, is Lawson’s version of the dish known as Mormon or Utah Funeral potatoes (Jensen), which are so iconic in Utah that they were featured on one of the Salt Lake City Olympic Games souvenir pins (Spackman). This tray of potatoes baked in milk and sour cream and then topped with crushed cornflakes are, she notes, although they sound exotic, quite familiar, and “perfect alongside the British traditional baked ham” (454), and reference given to an earlier ham recipe. These savoury recipes are followed by those for three substantial cakes: an orange cake marbled with chocolate-coffee swirls, a fruit tea loaf, and a rosemary flavoured butter cake, each to be served sliced to mourners. She suggests making the marble cake (which Lawson advises she includes in memory of the deceased mother of one of her friends) in a ring mould, “as the circle is always significant. There is a cycle that continues but—after all, the cake is sliced and the circle broken—another that has ended” (456). Of the fruitcake, she writes “I think you need a fruit cake for a funeral: there’s something both comforting and bolstering (and traditional) about it” (457). This tripartite concern—with comfort, sustenance and tradition—is common to much writing about funeral foods. Cookbooks from the American South Despite this English example, a large proportion of cookbook writing about funeral foods is in American publications, and especially those by southern American authors, reflecting the bountiful spreads regularly offered to mourners in these states. This is chronicled in novels, short stories, folk songs and food memoirs as well as some cookery books (Purvis). West’s memoir Consuming Passions: A Food Obsessed Life (2000) has a chapter devoted to funeral food, complete with recipes (132–44). West notes that it is traditional in southern small towns to bring covered dishes of food to the bereaved, and that these foods have a powerful, and singular, expressive mode: “Sometimes we say all the wrong things, but food […] says, ‘I know you are inconsolable. I know you are fragile right now. And I am so sorry for your loss’” (139). Suggesting that these foods are “concern and sympathy in a Pyrex bowl” (139), West includes recipes for Chess pie (a lemon tart), with the information that this is known in the South as “funeral pie” (135) and a lemon-flavoured slice that, with a cup of tea, will “revive the spirit” (136). Like Lawson, West finds significance in the colours of funeral foods, continuing that the sunny lemon in this slice “reminds us that life continues, that we must sustain and nourish it” (139). Gaydon Metcalf and Charlotte Hays’s Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral (2005), is one of the few volumes available dedicated to funeral planning and also offers a significant cookery-focused section on food to offer at, and take to, funeral events. Jessica Bemis Ward’s To Die For: A Book of Funeral Food, Tips, and Tales from the Old City Cemetery, Lynchburg, Virginia (2004) not only contains more than 100 recipes, but also information about funeral customs, practical advice in writing obituaries and condolence notes, and a series of very atmospheric photographs of this historic cemetery. The recipes in the book are explicitly noted to be traditional comfort foods from Central Virginia, as Ward agrees with the other writers identified that “simplicity is the by-word when talking about funeral food” (20). Unlike the other examples cited here, however, Ward also promotes purchasing commercially-prepared local specialties to supplement home-cooked items. There is certainly significantly more general recognition of the specialist nature of catering for funerals in the USA than in Australasia. American food is notable in stressing how different ethnic groups and regions have specific dishes that are associated with post-funeral meals. From this, readers learn that the Amish commonly prepare a funeral pie with raisins, and Chinese-American funerals include symbolic foods taken to the graveside as an offering—including piles of oranges for good luck and entire roast pigs. Jewish, Italian and Greek culinary customs in America also receive attention in both scholarly studies and popular American food writing (see, for example, Rogak, Purvis). This is beginning to be acknowledged in Australia with some recent investigation into the cultural importance of food in contemporary Chinese, Jewish, Greek, and Anglo-Australian funerals (Keys), but is yet to be translated into local mainstream cookery publication. Possible Publishing Futures As home funerals are a growing trend in the USA (Wilson 2009), green funerals increase in popularity in the UK (West, Natural Burial), and the multi-million dollar funeral industry is beginning to be questioned in Australia (FCDC), a more family or community-centered “response to death and after-death care” (NHFA) is beginning to re-emerge. This is a process whereby family and community members play a key role in various parts of the funeral, including in planning and carrying out after-death rituals or ceremonies, preparing the body, transporting it to the place of burial or cremation, and facilitating its final disposition in such activities as digging the grave (Gonzalez and Hereira, NHFA). Westrate, director of the documentary A Family Undertaking (2004), believes this challenges us to “re-examine our attitudes toward death […] it’s one of life’s most defining moments, yet it’s the one we typically prepare for least […] [and an indication of our] culture of denial” (PBS). With an emphasis on holding meaningful re-personalised after-disposal events as well as minimal, non-invasive and environmentally friendly treatment of the body (Harris), such developments would also seem to indicate that the catering involved in funeral occasions, and the cookbooks that focus on the provision of such food, may well become more prominent in the future. References [AHF] Australian Heritage Funerals. “After the Funeral.” Australian Heritage Funerals, 2013. 10 Mar. 2013 ‹http://www.ahfunerals.com.au/services.php?arid=31›. Ash, Romy. “The Taste of Sad: Funeral Feasts, Loss and Mourning.” Voracious: Best New Australian Food Writing. Ed. Paul McNally. Richmond, Vic.: Hardie Grant, 2011. 3 Apr. 2013 ‹http://www.romyash.com/non-fiction/the-taste-of-sad-funeral-feasts-loss-and-mourning›. Brien, Donna Lee, Leonie Rutherford, and Rosemary Williamson. "Hearth and Hotmail: The Domestic Sphere as Commodity and Community in Cyberspace." M/C Journal 10.4 (2007). 28 Apr. 2013 ‹http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0708/10-brien.php›. Brien, Donna Lee, and Rosemary Williamson. “‘Angels of the Home’ in Cyberspace: New Technologies and Biographies of Domestic Production”. Biography and New Technologies. Australian National University. Humanities Research Centre, Canberra, ACT. 12-14 Sep. 2006. Conference Presentation. Diamond, John. C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too… . London: Vermilion, 1998. Fisher, M.F.K. “S is for Sad.” An Alphabet for Gourmets. New York, North Point P, 1989. 1st. pub. New York, Viking: 1949. Gonzalez, Faustino, and Mildreys Hereira. “Home-Based Viewing (El Velorio) After Death: A Cost-Effective Alternative for Some Families.” American Journal of Hospice & Pallative Medicine 25.5 (2008): 419–20. Harris, Mark. Grave Matters: A Journey Through the Modern Funeral Industry to a Natural Way of Burial. New York: Scribner, 2007. Jalland, Patricia. Australian Ways of Death: A Social and Cultural History 1840-1918. Melbourne: Oxford UP, 2002. Jensen, Julie Badger. The Essential Mormon Cookbook: Green Jell-O, Funeral Potatoes, and Other Secret Combinations. Salt Lake City: Deseret, 2004. Keys, Laura. “Undertaking a Jelly Feast in Williamstown.” Hobsons Bay Leader 28 Mar. 2011. 2 Apr. 2013 ‹http://hobsons-bay-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/undertaking-a-jelly-feast-in-williamstown›. Lawson, Nigella. How to Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food. London: Chatto & Windus, 1998. ---. Feast: Food that Celebrates Life. London: Chatto & Windus, 2004. LeClercq, H. “The Agape Feast.” The Catholic Encyclopedia I, New York: Robert Appleton, 1907. 3 Apr. 2013. ‹http://www.piney.com/AgapeCE.html›. Luby, Edward M., and Mark F. Gruber. “The Dead Must Be Fed: Symbolic Meanings of the Shellmounds of the San Francisco Bay Area.” Cambridge Archaeological Journal 9.1 (1999): 95–108. Metcalf, Gaydon, and Charlotte Hays. Being Dead Is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral. New York: Miramax, 2005. [NHFA] National Home Funeral Alliance. “What is a Home Funeral?” National Home Funeral Alliance, 2012. 3 Apr. 2013. ‹http://homefuneralalliance.org›. PBS. “A Family Undertaking.” POV: Documentaries with a Point of View. PBS, 2004. 3 Apr. 2013 ‹http://www.pbs.org/pov/afamilyundertaking/film_description.php#.UYHI2PFquRY›. Probyn, Elspeth. Carnal Appetites: Food/Sex/Identities. London: Routledge, 2000. Purvis, Kathleen. “Funeral Food.” The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. Ed. Andrew F. Smith. New York: Oxford UP, 2007. 247–48. Rogak, Lisa. Death Warmed Over: Funeral Food, Rituals, and Customs from Around the World. Berkeley: Ten Speed P, 2004. Siegfried, Susie. Church Potluck Carry-Ins and Casseroles: Homestyle Recipes for Church Suppers, Gatherings, and Community Celebrations. Avon, MA.: Adams Media, 2006. Simplicity Funerals. Things You Need To Know About Funerals. Sydney: Simplicity Funerals, 1990. Smith, Eric Alden, and Rebecca L. Bliege Bird. “Turtle Hunting and Tombstone Opening: Public Generosity as Costly Signaling.” Evolution and Human Behavior 21.4 (2000): 245–61.Spackman, Christy. “Mormonism’s Jell-O Mold: Why Do We Associate the Religion With the Gelatin Dessert?” Slate Magazine 17 Aug. (2012). 3 Apr. 2013.Thursby, Jacqueline S. Funeral Festivals in America: Rituals for the Living. Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 2006. Varidel, Rebecca. “Bompas and Parr: Funerals and Food at Nelson Bros.” Inside Cuisine 12 Mar. (2011). 3 Apr. 2013 ‹http://insidecuisine.com/2011/03/12/bompas-and-parr-funerals-and-food-at-nelson-bros›. Ward, Jessica Bemis. Food To Die for: A Book of Funeral Food, Tips, and Tales from the Old City Cemetery, Lynchburg, Virginia. Lynchburg: Southern Memorial Association, 2004. West, Ken. A Guide to Natural Burial. Andover UK: Sweet & Maxwell, 2010. West, Michael Lee. Consuming Passions: A Food Obsessed Life. New York: Perennial, 2000. Wilson, M.T. “The Home Funeral as the Final Act of Caring: A Qualitative Study.” Master in Nursing thesis. Livonia, Michigan: Madonna University, 2009.

I miss the ferry to San Pietro, so after a long bus trip winding through the southern Sardinian rocky terrain past gum trees, shrubs, caper plants, and sheep, I take refuge from the rain in a bar at the port. While I order a beer and panini, the owner, a man in his early sixties, begins to chat asking me why I’m heading to the island. For the tuna, I say, to research cultural practices and changes surrounding the ancient tuna trap la tonnara, and for the Girotonno international tuna festival, which coincides with the migration of the Northern Bluefin Tuna and the harvest season. This year the slogan of the festival reads Dal Sulcis a Sushi ("From Sulcis to Sushi"), a sign of the diverse tastes to come. Tuna here is the best in the world, he exclaims, a sentiment I hear many times over whilst doing fieldwork in southern Italy. He excitedly gestures for me to follow. We walk into the kitchen and on a long steel bench sits a basin covered with cloth. He uncovers it, and proudly poised, waits for my reaction. A large pinkish-brown loin of cooked tuna sits in brine. I have never tasted tuna in this way, so to share in his enthusiasm I conjure my interest in the rich tuna gastronomy found in this area of Sardinia called Sulcis. I’m more familiar with the clean taste of sashimi or lightly seared tuna. As I later experience, traditional tuna preparations in San Pietro are far from this. The most notable characteristic is that the tuna is thoroughly cooked or the flesh or organs are preserved with salt by brining or drying. A tuna steak cooked in the oven is robust and more like meat from the land than the sea in its flavours, colour, and texture. This article is about taste: the taste of, and tastes for, tuna in a traditional fishing community. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork and is part of a wider inquiry into the place of tradition and culture in seafood sustainability discourses and practices. In this article I use the notion of a taste network to explore the relationship between macro forces—international markets, stock decline and marine regulations—and transformations within local cultures of tuna production and consumption. Taste networks frame the connections between taste in a gustatory sense, tastes as an aesthetic preference and tasting as a way of learning about and attuning to modes and meanings surrounding tuna. As Antoine Hennion asserts, taste is more than a connoisseurship of an object, taste represents a cultural activity that concerns a wide range of practices, exchanges and attachments. Elspeth Probyn suggests that taste “acts as a connector between history, place, things, and people” (65) and “can also come to form communities: local places that are entangled in the global” (62). Within this framework, taste moves away from Bourdieu’s notion of taste as a social distinction towards an understanding of taste as created through a network of entities—social, biological, technological, and so forth. It turns attention to the mundane activities and objects of tuna production and consumption, the components of a taste network, and the everyday spaces where tradition and transformation are negotiated. For taste to change requires a transformation of the network (or components of that network) that bring such tastes into existence. These networks and their elements form the very meaning, matter, and moments of tradition and culture. As Hennion reminds us through his idea of “reservoir(s) of difference” (100), there are a range of diverse tastes that can materialise from the interactions of humans with objects, in this case tuna. Yet, taste networks can also be rendered obsolete. When a highly valued and endangered species like Bluefin is at the centre of such networks, there are material, ethical, and even political limitations to some tastes. In a study that follows three scientists as they attempt to address scallop decline in Brest and St Brieuc Bay, Michael Callon advocates for “the abandonment of all prior distinction between the natural and the social” (1). He draws attention to networks of actors and significant moments, rather than pre-existing categories, to figure the contours of power. This approach is particularly useful for social research that involves science, technology and the “natural” world. In my own research in San Pietro, the list of human and non-human actors is long and spans the local to the global: Bluefin (in its various meanings and as an entity with its own agency), tonnara owners, fishermen, technologies, fish shops and restaurants, scientific observers, policy (local, regional, national, European and international), university researchers, the sea, weather, community members, Japanese and Spanish buyers, and markets. Local discourses surrounding tuna and taste articulate human and non-human entanglements in quite particular ways. In San Pietro, as with much of Italy, notions of place, environment, identity, quality, and authenticity are central to the culture of tuna production and consumption. Food products are connected to place through ecological, cultural and technological dimensions. In Morgan, Marsden, and Murdoch’s terms this frames food and tastes in relation to a spatial dimension (its place of origin), a social dimension (its methods of production and distribution), and a cultural dimension (its perceived qualities and reputation). The place name labelling of canned tuna from San Pietro is an example of a product that represents the notion of provenance. The practice of protecting traditional products is well established in Italy through appellation programs, much like the practice of protecting terroir products in France. It is no wonder that the eco-gastronomic movement Slow Food developed in Italy as a movement to protect traditional foods, production methods, and biodiversity. Such discourses and movements like Slow Food create local/global frameworks and develop in relation to the phenomenon and ideas like globalisation, industrialization, and homogenisation. This study is based on ethnographic fieldwork in San Pietro over the 2013 tuna season. This included interviews with some thirty participants (fishers, shop keepers, locals, restaurateurs, and tonnara owners), secondary research into international markets, marine regulations, and environmental movements, and—of course—a gustatory experience of tuna. Walking down the main street the traditions of the tonnara and tuna are palpable. On a first impression there’s something about the streets and piazzas that is akin to Zukin’s notion of “vernacular spaces”, “sources of identity and belonging, affective qualities that the idea of intangible culture expresses, refines and sustains” (282). At the centre is the tonnara, which refers to the trap (a labyrinth of underwater nets) as well as the technique of tuna fishing and land based processing activities. For centuries, tuna and the tonnara have been at the centre of community life, providing employment, food security, and trade opportunities, and generating a wealth of ecological knowledge, a rich gastronomy based on preserved tuna, and cultural traditions like the famous harvest ritual la mattanza (the massacre). Just about every organ is preserved by salting and drying. The most common is the female ovary sac, which becomes bottarga. Grated onto pasta it has a strong metallic offal flavour combined with the salty tang of the sea. There is also the male equivalent lusciami, a softer consistency and flavour, as well as dried heart and lungs. There is canned tuna, a continuation of the tradition of brining and barrelling, but these are no ordinary cans. Each part of the tuna is divided into parts corresponding loosely to anatomy but more closely to quality based on textures, colour, and taste. There is the ventresca from the belly, the most prized cut because of its high fat content. Canned in olive oil or brine, a single can of this cut sells for around 30 Euros. Both the canned variety or freshly grilled ventresca is a sumptuous experience, soft and rich. Change is not new to San Pietro. In the long history of the tonnara there have been numerous transformations resulting from trade, occupation, and dominant economic systems. As Stefano Longo describes, with the development of capitalism and industrialization, the socio-economic structure of the tonnara changed and there was a dramatic decline in tonnare (plural) throughout the 1800s. The tonnare also went through different phases of ownership. In 1587 King Philip II formally established the Sardinian tonnare (Emery). Phillip IV then sold a tonnara to a Genovese man in 1654 and, from the late 18th century until today, the tonnara has remained in the Greco family from Genova. There were also changes to fishing and preservation technologies, such as the replacement of barrels after the invention of the can in the early 1800s, and innovations to recipes, as for example in the addition of olive oil. Yet, compared to recent changes, the process of harvesting, breaking down and sorting flesh and organs, and preserving tuna, has remained relatively stable. The locus of change in recent years concerns the harvest, the mattanza. For locals this process seems to be framed with concepts of before, and after, the Japanese arrived on the island. Owner Giuliano Greco, a man in his early fifties who took over the management of the tonnara from his father when it reopened in the late 1990s, describes these changes: We have two ages—before the Japanese and after. Before the Japanese, yes, the tuna was damaged. It was very violent in the mattanza. In the age before the pollution, there was a crew of 120 people divided in a little team named the stellati. The more expert and more important at the centre of the boat, the others at the side because at the centre there was more tuna. When there was mattanza it was like a race, a game, because if they caught more tuna they had more entrails, which was good money for them, because before, part of the wage was in nature, part of the tuna, and for this game the tuna was damaged because they opened it with a knife, the heart, the eggs etc. And for this method it was very violent because they wanted to get the tuna entrails first. The tuna remained on the boat without ice, with blood everywhere. The tonnara operated within clear social hierarchies made up of tonnarotti (tuna fishermen) under the guidance of the Rais (captain of tonnara) whose skills, charisma and knowledge set him apart. The Rais liaised with the tonnarotti, the owners, and the local community, recruiting men and women to augment the workforce in the mattanza period. Goliardo Rivano, a tonnarotto (singular) since 1999 recalls “all the town would be called on for the mattanza. Not only men but women too would work in the cannery, cutting, cleaning, and canning the tuna.” The mattanza was the starting point of supply and consumption networks. From the mattanza the tuna was broken down, the flesh boiled and brined for local and foreign markets, and the organs salted and dried for the (mainly) local market. Part of the land-based activities of tonnarotti involved cleaning, salting, pressing and drying the organs, which supplemented their wage. As Giuliano described, the mattanza was a bloody affair because of the practice of retrieving the organs; but since the tuna was boiled and then preserved in brine, it was not important whether the flesh was damaged. At the end of the 1970s the tonnara closed. According to locals and reportage, pollution from a nearby factory had caused a drastic drop in tuna. It remained closed until the mid 1990s when Japanese buyers came to inquire about tuna from the trap. Global tastes for tuna had changed during the time the tonnara was closed. An increase in western appetites for sushi had been growing since the early 1970s (Bestore). As Theadore Bestore describes in detail, this coincided with a significant transformation of the Japanese fishing industry’s international role. In the 1980s, the Japanese government began to restructure its fleets in response to restricted access to overseas fishing grounds, which the declaration of Excusive Economic Zones enforced (Barclay and Koh). At this time, Japan turned to foreign suppliers for tuna (Bestore). Kate Barclay and Sun-Hui Koh describe how quantity was no longer a national food security issue like it had been in post war Japan and “consumers started to demand high-quality high-value products” (145). In the late 1990s, the Greco family reopened the tonnara and the majority of the tuna went to Japan leaving a smaller portion for the business of canning. The way mattanza was practiced underwent profound changes and particular notions of quality emerged. This was also the beginning of new relationships and a widening of the taste network to include international stakeholders: Japanese buyers and markets became part of the network. Giuliano refers to the period as the “Japanese Age”. A temporal framing that is iterated by restaurant and fish shop owners who talk about a time when Japanese began to come to the island and have the first pick of the tuna. Giuliano recalls “there was still blood but there was not the system of opening tuna, in total, like before. Now the tuna is opened on the land. The only operation we do on the boat is blooding and chilling.” Here he references the Japanese technique of ikejime. Over several years the technicians taught Giuliano and some of the crew about killing the tuna faster and bleeding it to maintain colour and freshness. New notions of quality and taste for raw or lightly cooked tuna entered San Pietro. According to Rais Luigi “the tuna is of higher quality, because we treat it in a particular way, with ice.” Giuliano describes the importance of quality. “Before they used the stellati and it took five people, each one with a harpoon to haul the tuna. Now they only use one hook, in the mouth and use a chain, by hand. On board there is bleeding, and there is blood, but now we must keep the quality of the meat at its best.” In addition to the influence of Japanese tastes, the international Girotonno tuna festival had its inauguration in 2003, and, along with growing tourism, brought cosmopolitan and international tastes to San Pietro. The impact of a global taste for tuna has had devastating effects on their biomass. The international response to the sharp decline was the expansion of the role of inter-governmental monitoring bodies like International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), the introduction of quotas, and an increase in the presence of marine authorities on fleets, scientific research and environmental campaigns. In San Pietro, international relationships further widened and so did the configuration of taste networks, this time to include marine regulators, a quota on Bluefin, a Spanish company, and tuna ranches in Malta. The mattanza again was at the centre of change and became a point of contention within the community. This time because as a practice it is endangered, occurring only once or twice a year, “for the sake of tradition, culture” as Giuliano stated. The harvest now takes place in ranches in Malta because for the last three years the Greco family have supplied the tonnara’s entire quota (excluding tuna from mattanza or those that die in the net) to a major Spanish seafood company Riccardo Fuentes e Hijos, which transports them live to Malta where they are fattened and slaughtered, predominantly for a Japanese market. The majority of tuna now leave the island whole, which has profoundly transformed the distribution networks and local taste culture, and mainly the production and trade in tuna organs and canned tuna. In 2012, ICCAT and the European Union further tightened the quotas, which along with competition with industrial fisheries for both quota and markets, has placed enormous pressure on the tonnara. In 2013, it was allocated a quota that was well under what is financially sustainable. Add to the mix the additional expense of financing the obligatory scientific observers, and the tonnara has had to modify its operations. In the last few years there has been a growing antagonism between marine regulations, global markets, and traditional practices. This is exemplified in the limitations to the tuna organ tradition. It is now more common to find dried tuna organs in vacuum packs from Sicily rather than local products. As the restaurateur Secondo Borghero of Tonno della Corsa says “the tonnara made a choice to sell the live tuna to the Spanish. It’s a big problem. The tuna is not just the flesh but also the interior—the stomach, the heart, the eggs—and now we don’t have the quantity of these and the quality around is also not great.” In addition, even though preserved organs are available for consumption, local preserving activities have almost ceased along with supplementary income. The social structures and the types of actors that are a part of the tonnara have also changed. New kinds of relationships, bodies, and knowledge are situated side by side because of the mandate that there be scientific observers present at certain moments in the season. In addition, there are coast guards and, at various stages of the season, university staff contracted by ICCAT take samples and tag the tuna to generate data. The changes have also introduced new types of knowledge, activities, and institutional affiliations based on scientific ideas and discourses of marine biology, conservation, and sustainability. These are applied through marine management activities and regimes like quotas and administered through state and global institutions. This is not to say that the knowledge informing the Rais’s decisions has been done away with but as Gisli Palsson has previously argued, there is a new knowledge hierarchy, which places a significant focus on the notion of expert knowledge. This has the potential to create unequal power dynamics between the marine scientists and the fishers. Today in San Pietro tuna tastes are diverse. Tuna is delicate, smooth, and rich ventresca, raw tartare clean on the palate, novel at the Girotono, hearty tuna al forno, and salty dry bottarga. Tasting tuna in San Pietro offers a material and affective starting point to follow the socio-cultural, political, and ecological contours and contentions that are part of tuna traditions and their transformations. By thinking of gustatory and aesthetic tastes as part of wider taste networks, which involve human and non-human entities, we can begin to unpack and detail better what these changes encompass and figure forms and moments of power and agency. At the centre of tastes and transformation in San Pietro are the tonnara and the mattanza. Although in its long existence the tonnara has endured many changes, those in the past 15 years are unprecedented. Several major global events have provided conditions for change and widened the network from its once mainly local setting to its current global span. First, Japanese and global tastes set a demand for tuna and introduced different tuna production and preparation techniques and new styles of serving tuna raw or lightly cooked tuna. Later, the decline of Bluefin stocks and the increasing involvement of European and international monitoring bodies introduced catch limitations along with new processes and types of knowledge and authorities. Coinciding with this was the development of relationships with middle companies, which again introduced new techniques and technologies, namely the gabbie (cage) and ranches, to the taste network. In the cultural setting of Italy where the conservation of tradition is of particular importance, as I have explained earlier through the notion of provenance, the management of a highly regulated endangered marine species is a complex project that causes much conflict. Because of the dire state of the stocks and continual rise in global demand, solutions are complex. Yet it would seem useful to recognise that tuna tastes are situated within a network of knowledge, know-how, technology, and practices that are not simple modes of production and consumption but also ways of stewarding the sea and its species. Ethics Approval Original names have been used when participants gave consent on the official consent form to being identified in publications relating to the study. This is in accordance with ethics approval granted through the University of Sydney on 21 March 2013. Project number 2012/2825. References Barclay, Kate, and Koh Sun-Hui “Neo-liberal Reforms in Japan’s Tuna Fisheries? 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