1986-05-05 Assigned to CHEVRON RESEARCH COMPANY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA. A CORP. OF DE. reassignment CHEVRON RESEARCH COMPANY, SAN FRANCISCO, CA. A CORP. OF DE. ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST. Assignors: GULF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, A CORP. OF DE.
This invention relates to the recovery of liquid carbonaceous fuel components from subterranean formations by an in situ combustion process in which the low heating value waste gas stream resulting from the subterranean combustion is itself combusted above ground. This combusted waste gas stream is preferably utilized to power a turbine-compressor unit which compresses the air for injection into the formation for the in situ combustion. More particularly, this invention relates to an in situ combustion process in which the waste gas stream is subjected to substoichiometric combustion. This invention also relates to the substoichiometric combustion of the waste gas stream in the presence of a catalyst which causes a substantial reduction in the carbon monoxide content of the combusted waste gas stream.
Various carbonaceous materials occur in underground deposits in substantial quantities but are resistive to recovery for aboveground use. This includes viscous oils, the oil remaining in petroleum deposits after primary or secondary production of the oil bearing formation, shale oil occurring in solid bituminous deposits, tar sands, coal seams too deep or too thin to mine, and the like. It has been proposed that these fuel materials be recovered by an in situ combustion process and some limited attempts have been made to accomplish this. The in situ recovery of underground fuel values involves the injection of air into the carbonaceous deposit to burn a minor portion of the deposit in order to produce a further portion of the deposit for use above ground as a liquid and/or gas. Such recovery procedures generally result in a gas stream of low heating value, particularly in those operations which produce a liquid hydrocarbon as the desired product. As used herein, the expressions heating value and heat content both refer to the energy obtainable by burning the combustible components in the stream of waste gas.
The obvious way to handle a waste gas stream of low heat content is to discard it directly into the atmosphere. But in recent years a greater recognition and concern about atmospheric pollution has led to legal standards in many areas controlling the direct emission to the atmosphere of waste gases containing significant amounts of hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide. Furthermore, there is a growing recognition and concern regarding the social as well as economic loss in wasting energy. Although these waste gas streams resulting from in situ combustion may have a low heating value on a unit volume analysis, they do contain a very large heating value overall because of the enormous volumes of gas involved. It has therefore become most desirable and even necessary that the heat content of these waste gas streams be utilized and that the atmosphere be spared contamination.
The combustible components in a waste gas stream from an in situ combustion process can be burned using a suitable oxidation catalyst. This hot gas can then be used to drive the turbine-compressor unit which injects the required large volumes of air at high pressure into the underground carbonaceous deposit undergoing in situ combustion. In order to obtain the full heating value of this waste gas as well as to avoid the emission of undesirable components into the atmosphere, these waste gas streams can be burned to substantially stoichiometric completion in the presence of an oxidation catalyst. But these stoichiometrically combusted waste gas streams generally vary in temperature over relatively short periods of time due to inherent variations in the heating value of these waste gas streams. In an effort to protect the gas turbine against damage resulting from these temperature fluctuations and to operate at the turbine's design temperature, the combustion process involves auxiliary temperature control such as is accomplished by the injection of supplemental fuel into the waste gas during heating value minimums and the injection of cooling air into the combusted waste gas during heating value peaks to provide a constant gas temperature.
We have determined that a waste gas stream of low heat content which varies with time can be effectively combusted at a substantially constant combustion temperature for use in a gas turbine. This is accomplished by combusting the gas with a constant amount of air which is substantially less than the amount of air required for stoichiometric combustion. Furthermore, if the heat content of the waste gas is relatively constant but so high that its stoichiometric combustion results in a gas temperature too high for use in a gas turbine, its combustion temperature can be effectively restricted to the design limits of the gas turbine by operating at substantial substoichiometric conditions with a constant quantity of combustion air. We have further discovered that this substoichiometric combustion can be carried out using a particular catalyst for the production of reduced and acceptable carbon monoxide levels.
In carrying out a hydrocarbon recovery operation by in situ combustion such as in a tertiary recovery process in a partially depleted oil field, combustion air is pumped at a substantial pressure through an injection well into the combustion zone. By a combination of heating and cracking the oil is liquefied and caused to flow to one or more production wells. The hot, substantially oxygen-free gas stream, after passage through the combustion zone is cooled down to the reservoir temperature by the time it arrives at the production well. As it is produced, it contains significant quantities of entrained liquid hydrocarbons as well as gaseous hydrocarbons and minor amounts of carbon monoxide, hydrogen and hydrogen sulfide. The liquid hydrocarbons are removed from the gas stream in an above-ground separator. The combustible component of the waste gas stream leaving the separator is principally methane but it also contains minor amounts of other hydrocarbons having up to about five carbon atoms and in some instances up to about seven carbon atoms, as well as the carbon monoxide, hydrogen and hydrogen sulfide. The remainder is principally nitrogen and carbon dioxide.
The combustible components in this waste gas stream can be mixed with a stoichiometric excess of air and burned in the presence of a suitable oxidation catalyst such as platinum if it is at its ignition, or light off, temperature, which varies with the gas composition and the nature of the oxidation catalyst. If the catalyst is provided in a suitable physical form to provide adequate contact of the large volume of gas with the catalyst, substantially complete combustion of the hydrocarbon to carbon dioxide and water is accomplished. This combusted gas stream, at an elevated pressure, can be directed to the turbine-compressor unit for compressing the combustion air which is injected into the underground combustion zone.
But, unfortunately the waste gas stream generally varies in heating value over a period of time, even from hour to hour, as a result of inherent variations in the underground formation and the combustion process. As a result, the temperature of the combusted waste gas stream will vary in temperature with complete combustion. Since gas turbines are designed for constant temperature operation, adjustments must be made to control the temperature of the combusted gas stream so that it can be utilized in a gas turbine.
We have discovered that an in situ combustion process can be successfully carried out in a subterranean hydrocarbon deposit by an integrated operation in which the heat energy in the combusted waste gas directly powers a turbine driven air compressor even though the heating value of the waste gas stream varies with time. Even though the waste gas stream varies in heating value, we obtain a constant combustion temperature by using a constant substoichiometric amount of air for the combustion which is also sufficient to provide the desired turbine operating temperature. As a result of this substoichiometric combustion, the combusted waste gas stream will still have a variable but generally minimal heating value. The heating value in the compressor exhaust gas, if significant, can be recovered by a further catalytic combustion and utilized to produce steam or heated water as may be needed on the recovery site. Or the turbine exhaust can be directly vented to the atmosphere. We have further discovered that the carbon monoxide content of the turbine exhaust can be restricted to acceptable amounts, notwithstanding the substoichiometric combustion, if the waste gas is combusted in the presence of a multicomponent oxidation catalyst as described herein.
The substoichiometric combustion of the low heating value waste gas stream is carried out by our process using an air equivalence ratio, or A.E.R., of at least about 0.20 up to about 0.90 (the denominator of this ratio being 1.0 is not expressed), and more generally an air equivalence ratio of at least about 0.4 and a maximum of about 0.80. As used herein, air equivalence ratio is the ratio of the amount of air actually used in the partial combustion process to the amount of air required at the same conditions of pressure and temperature for stoichiometric combustion of all combustible components in the gas stream.
In our study of the platinum-catalyzed, substoichiometric combustion of a dilute hydrocarbon stream we made several interesting observations. First, it was found that the only combustibles present in this partially combusted gas stream are carbon monoxide, hydrogen and unreacted hydrocarbon. Second, we observed that in this partial combustion the amount of carbon monoxide reached a maximum at an air equivalence ratio of about 0.6. In fact, we found that the amount of carbon monoxide substantially exceeded the amount of carbon dioxide in the combusted gas at an A.E.R. of 0.6, such that the ratio of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide was less than 1.0 at an A.E.R. between about 0.4 and about 0.7.
As would be expected in the platinum-catalyzed reaction, the molar ratio of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide rapidly increased as the A.E.R. approached 1.0. But surprisingly, we discovered that the molar ratio of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide also rapidly increased as the A.E.R. was reduced to values less than about 0.4. This is surprising because it is not consistent with the conventional teaching that carbon monoxide is the result of incomplete combustion of a hydrocarbon. If this conventional teaching were applied to this particular combustion system, the ratio of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide would be expected to increase as the air equivalence ratio decreased, and that it would be expected to be particularly large at small air equivalence ratios. We conclude from our combustion studies that the carbon monoxide in this platinum-catalyzed, substoichiometric combustion of a dilute hydrocarbon is primarily the result of secondary reactions including the steam reforming and water gas shift reactions.
In the steam reforming reaction, hydrocarbons such as methane and water are in equilibrium with carbon monoxide and hydrogen. In the water gas shift reaction carbon monoxide and water are in equilibrium with carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Thus, a study of these equilibrium reactions suggests several mechanisms for the unexpected product mixture of the oxides of carbon including the substantial production of carbon monoxide and a corresponding minimum in the carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide ratio at an air equivalence ratio of about 0.6.
When methane is the primary combustible component in the waste gas stream, it will be substantially the only hydrocarbon in the gas exhausted to the atmosphere which is fortuitous since methane, in limited amounts, is not considered to be a pollutant in the atmosphere. It can be shown that a mixture of diluted, gaseous, paraffinic hydrocarbons will react at different rates when burned in a deficiency of air. The higher paraffinic hydrocarbons burn readily, while the lower the number of carbon atoms in the molecular structure the more resistant to combustion is the hydrocarbon. As a demonstration of this variable combustibility, a nitrogen-diluted two weight percent mixture of one to five carbon paraffinic hydrocarbons was burned in a combustion furnace with fifty percent of the stoichiometric amount of air for complete combustion. The gas, heated to 840° F. and passed in contact with a supported platinum oxidation catalyst, reached a maximum temperature of 1430° F. In this combustion experiment 100 percent of the n-pentane was converted, 54.5 percent of the n-butane, 44.1 percent of the propane, 31.8 percent of the ethane and 11 percent of the methane. This demonstrates that partial combustion of a dilute gaseous hydrocarbon mixture including methane will substantially increase the proportion of methane in the product gas.
The temperature of the waste gas stream will only be moderately higher than ambient temperature due to the cooling effect of the formation following the underground combustion. Therefore, it is necessary to preheat the waste gas stream for catalytic combustion, preferably after the air for combustion has been injected into the waste gas stream. This preheating must be at least as high as the ignition, or light off, temperature of the gas. The preferred means for preheating the waste gas stream is by heat exchange with the hot combusted gas stream leaving the combustion zone. In general, two combustion chambers in series are preferred in order to avoid an excessive temperature rise in a single combustion chamber. In this two-stage combustion process, the waste gas stream is desirably preheated after the first combustion stage. The temperature of the combusted gas stream is dependent on a number of factors including the heating value of the waste gas stream, the temperature of the waste gas stream prior to preheating, the amount of air that is used for combustion, the inherent heat losses in the system, and the like.
With regard to the many conditions and variables which may be involved in any specific in situ combustion operation, the waste gas streams which are combusted to temperatures that are useful in gas turbines have a heat content of at least about 40 Btu/scf., preferably about 50 Btu/scf., however, heating values as low as 15 to 25 Btu/scf. can be utilized with the injection of supplemental fuel. The maximum heating value of the waste gas stream obtained by the in situ combustion procedure will be about 200, more generally a maximum of about 150 and most likely a maximum heating value of about 100 Btu/scf.
As pointed out, the substoichiometric combustion is carried out in the presence of a suitable oxidation catalyst. A supported platinum catalyst is preferred because platinum is both a highly active oxidation catalyst and is also relatively sulfur tolerant. Other oxidation catalysts can also be used but are less desirable than a platinum catalyst, such as ruthenium, palladium, rhodium, osmium, iridium, vanadium, cobalt, nickel, iron, copper, manganese, chromium, molybdenum, titanium, silver, cerium and the like. Suitable mixtures of the oxidation catalysts can also be used.
If it is desired to reduce the carbon monoxide content of the combusted gas stream for environmental reasons, a platinum and cocatalyst combination can be used of the type described in our copending patent application Ser. No. 921,329, filed July 3, 1978. As described in this earlier filed patent application, the carbon monoxide level in the substoichiometric combustion of low heating value gas streams can be substantially reduced by the use of a cocatalyst selected from Groups IA, II, III, VIIB and VIII through atomic No. 45, the lanthanides, chromium, silver, tin, and antimony with the platinum oxidation catalyst. The metals in these named groups which are particularly useful as a cocatalyst with platinum are sodium, potassium, cesium, magnesium, calcium, zinc, cadmium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, ruthenium, rhodium, cerium and mixed lanthanides containing cerium.
The oxidation catalyst that is used in our substoichiometric combustion process is desirably carried on an inert support. Since the catalytic combustion inherently involves a relatively large volume of the stream of low heating value gas, the support is preferably of a design to permit good solid-gas content at relatively low pressure drop. A suitable support can be formed as a monolith with hexagonal cells in a honeycomb design. Other cellular relatively open-celled designs are also suitable.
The support for the catalysts to be used in the process of this invention can be any of the refractory oxide supports well known in the art, such as those prepared from alumina, silica, magnesia, thoria, titania, zirconia, silica-aluminas, silica-zirconias, magnesia-aluminas, and the like. Other suitable supports include the naturally occurring clays, such as diatomaceous earth. Additional desirable supports for use herein are the more recently developed corrugated ceramic materials made, for example, from alumina, silica, magnesia, and the like. An example of such material is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,255,027 and is sold by E. I. duPont de Nemours & Company as Torvex. More recently, metallic monoliths have been fabricated as catalyst supports and these may be used to mount the catalytic material. An example of these supports is Fecralloy manufactured by Mattey Bishop, Inc. under U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,298,826 and 3,920,583.
If desired, the catalyst and cocatalyst, if used, can be mounted directly onto the surface of the monolith. Or the monolith can first be coated with refractory oxide, such as defined above, prior to the deposition of these materials. The addition of the refractory oxide coating allows the catalyst to be more securely bound to the monolith and also aids in its dispersion on the support. These coated monoliths possess the advantage of being easily formed in one piece with a configuration suitable to permit the passage of the combustion gases with little pressure drop. The surface area of the monolith generally is less than one square meter per gram. However, the coating generally has a surface area of between about ten and about 300 m2 /g. Since the coating is generally about ten percent of the coated support, the surface area of the coated support will therefore generally be between about one and about 30 m2 /g.
In preparing the platinum and cocatalyst combination it is preferred that the cocatalyst be placed on the support before the platinum. However, the reverse order of emplacement is also suitable or the platinum and cocatalyst can be added in a single step. In the preferred procedure a suitable salt of the cocatalyst metal is dissolved in a solvent, preferably water. The support is impregnated with the solution of the cocatalyst metal. In a preferred embodiment the impregnated support is next gassed with a suitable gas, generally ammonia or hydrogen sulfide, to cause the catalyst metal to precipitate uniformly on the support as the hydroxide or sulfide as the case may be. It is then dried and calcined in air at about 800° to 1200° F., preferably at about 1000° F. Hydrogen may be used to reduce the cocatalyst compound to the metal if desired.
Platinum is impregnated onto the support, either alone or in association with a cocatalyst as an aqueous solution of a water-soluble compound such as chloroplatinic acid, ammonium chloroplatinate, platinum tetramine dinitrate, and the like. The catalyst is then gassed with hydrogen sulfide in a preferred embodiment to cause precipitation of the platinum as the sulfide to ensure uniform distribution of the platinum on the support. It is again dried and then calcined in air at about 800° to 1200° F., preferably at about 1000° F. The same general procedure can be used for the incorporation of a different oxidation catalyst on the support. In general, it is not certain whether calcination converts the catalyst metal sulfides and hydrated sulfides to another compound or how much is converted to the oxide, sulfite or sulfate, or to the metal itself. Nevertheless, for convenience, the noble metals such as platinum are reported as the metal and the other catalyst metals are reported as the oxide.
The catalyst can also be added to the coated monolith as a slurry of finely ground powders. In the case of the noble metals such as platinum, powdered metal is preferred but the platinum could also be added as the powdered oxide. The other catalyst metals would preferably be added as the powdered oxide or sulfide. The powdered metals could be added together or in succession with calcining as described above. In a further alternative the coating material such as powdered alumina is impregnated with a solution of the metal compound and calcined. The monolith is then coated with a slurry of this powder and calcined. In this latter technique all of the catalyst components can be added to the monolith in one step.
The supported catalyst is prepared so that it contains between about 0.005 and about 20 weight percent of the catalyst metal reported as the oxide, and preferably between about 0.1 and about 15 weight percent of the metal oxide. The platinum or other noble metal is used in an amount to form a finished supported catalyst containing between about 0.005 and about ten weight percent of the metal, and preferably about between 0.01 and about seven weight percent of the metal. When the platinum and cocatalyst combination is used for lowered carbon monoxide content in the product gas stream, the relative amount of the cocatalyst and the platinum has an effect on the combustion, including an effect in the amount of carbon monoxide in the combusted gas. The catalyst will broadly contain a mol ratio of cocatalyst as the oxide to platinum as the metal of between about 0.01:1 and about 200:1, preferably between about 0.1:1 and about 100:1, and most preferably between about 0.5:1 and about 50:1.
The reactor used in the following experiments, at atmospheric pressure was a one-inch I.D. forged steel unit which was heavily insulated to give adiabatic reaction conditions. The reactor used in the combustion under pressure was made from Incoloy 800 alloy (32 percent Ni, 46 percent Fe and 20.5 percent Cr) but was otherwise the same. The catalyst consisted of three one-inch monoliths wrapped in a thin sheet of a refractory material (Fiberfrax, available from Carborundum Co.). The catalyst compositions, as specified, are only approximate because they are based on the composition of the impregnating solution and the amount absorbed and are not based on a complete chemical analysis of the finished catalyst. Well insulated preheaters were used to heat the gas stream before it was introduced into the reactor. The temperatures were measured directly before and after the catalyst bed to provide the inlet and outlet temperatures. An appropriate flow of preheated nitrogen and air was passed over the catalyst until the desired feed temperature was obtained.
Preheated hydrocarbon was then introduced at a gas hourly space velocity of 42,000 per hour on an air-free basis and combustion was allowed to proceed until steady state conditions were reached. The feed gas stream contained 94.5 mol percent nitrogen, 3.75 mol percent methane, 0.98 mol percent ethane, 0.77 mol percent propane and 400 ppm. hydrogen sulfide, except where otherwise noted. The heating value of this feed stream is about 75 Btu/scf. The experiments were conducted at atmospheric pressure or at a slightly elevated pressure, except where otherwise noted. The analyses were made after steady state conditions were reached on a water-free basis. The conversion is the overall conversion of all hydrocarbon constituents. No measurable free oxygen occurred in the product gas stream.
The preparation of a catalyst containing antimony as the cocatalyst is now described. A Torvex monolith was used as the support. The Torvex support, a product of E. I. duPont deNemours and Company was a mullite ceramic in the shape of a honeycomb having a coating of alumina of about 25 m2 /g. surface area. The support was cut into one inch diameter by one inch deep pieces and freed from dust. This support material was impregnated with a solution containing 15.96 g. of antimony trichloride in 44.04 g. of a 1:3 solution of HCl and water by soaking for 15 minutes. These pieces of support were drained of excess solution and treated with gaseous ammonia for 30 minutes to precipitate the antimony as the hydroxide. The support material was then dried at 120° C. and calcined at 1000° F.
The pieces were next soaked for 15 minutes in an aqueous solution of chloroplatinic acid containing 23 mg. of platinum per ml. After removing excess solution from the support material, it was gassed with hydrogen sulfide for 30 minutes to precipitate the platinum as platinum sulfide. The catalyst was then dried at 120° C. and calcined at 1000° F.
Other catalysts were prepared in an identical manner except that where necessary the cocatalyst was precipitated with hydrogen sulfide instead of with ammonia such as a catalyst prepared by impregnating the support with an aqueous solution of nickel nitrate.
A catalyst was made as described in Example 1 containing about 0.3 percent platinum but the cocatalyst was omitted for comparison purposes. The operating data, including the inlet and outlet gas temperatures, and results for a number of combustion runs over a series of air equivalence ratios are set out in Table I.
Table I______________________________________Temperature, °F.            CO        CO.sub.2Run  AER    Inlet    Outlet                      Mol %   Mol % Conv. %______________________________________ 1.sup.a0.2    700       943  0.14    1.28  19.32    0.3    650      1062  0.45    1.66  23.33    0.4    650      1148  1.17    1.69  42.1 4.sup.a0.5    650      1236  1.94    1.66  57.35    0.6    650      1315  2.42    1.79  71.4 6.sup.a0.7    650      1415  2.11    2.43  81.57    0.8    650      1596  0.75    4.03  --______________________________________ .sup.a Average of 2 runs on different days.
A study of Table I discloses that over a wide range of air equivalence ratios the amount of carbon dioxide remains relatively constant between an A.E.R. of about 0.3 to about 0.6 while the amount of carbon monoxide rapidly increases in this range to an unexpected peak at an A.E.R. of about 0.6. Over this range of increasing oxygen, the conversion and overall amount of carbon oxides increase, as would be expected. It is further noted that the largest carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide ratio surprisingly occurs at minimum oxygen, such as illustrated at an A.E.R. of 0.2, since the production of carbon dioxide unexpectedly decreases much more than the production of carbon monoxide as the amount of oxygen decreases in the low range of air equivalence ratios.
That the maximum carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide ratio occurs at minimum oxygen strongly suggests to us that the principal source of carbon monoxide in the system is not from incomplete combustion, that is, the direct but partial oxidation of the hydrocarbon to carbon monoxide and water. If this reaction were the principal source of the carbon monoxide, then the minimum carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide ratio would be expected to occur at minimum oxygen. Instead the surprising occurrence of maximum carbon monoxide and minimum carbon dioxide ratio in the mid A.E.R. range, strongly suggests that another mechanism is the primary source of the carbon monoxide, such as the steam reforming reaction and the water gas shift reaction.
A catalyst was made as described in Example 1 containing tin calculated as about 1.0 percent tin oxide, SnO2, and about 0.3 percent platinum. The operating data and results over a series of air equivalence ratios are set out in Table II.
Table II______________________________________Temperature, °F.            CO        CO.sub.2Run  AER    Inlet    Outlet                      Mol %   Mol % Conv. %______________________________________8    0.2    745      1069  0.06    1.35  19.99    0.3    649      1170  0.14    1.89  27.810   0.4    649      1297  0.37    2.19  37.511   0.5    649      1413  0.63    2.49  44.812   0.6    649      1519  0.79    2.79  56.213.sup.a0.7    649      1619  1.08    3.12  70.514.sup.a0.8    650      1786  0.86    3.86  91.3______________________________________ .sup.a Average of 2 runs on different days.
A series of catalysts were prepared by the two-stage procedure used in Example 1 and tested to illustrate the effect of the cocatalyst combination in carbon monoxide reduction. Many of these catalysts were tested at different air equivalence ratios and it was found that the maximum carbon monoxide occurred at an A.E.R. of about 0.7 when a cocatalyst was used with platinum. This contrasts with maximum carbon monoxide occurring at an A.E.R. of 0.6 when no cocatalyst is used with platinum.
Table III summarizes a series of experiments by setting forth the results of various catalytic combinations at an A.E.R. of 0.7 for the two-component catalysts, and an A.E.R. of 0.6 for the platinum-only catalysts. All runs were carried out at an inlet temperature of 649°-650° F. The catalysts contained approximately 0.3 weight percent platinum, except where specially noted.
TABLE III______________________________________               Out-    CO    CO.sub.2Run  Cocatalyst     let °F.                       Mol % Mol % Conv. %______________________________________15.sup.a--             1285    2.85  1.59  76.35    --             1315    2.42  1.79  71.416.sup.b0.7% Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3               1599    1.15  3.00  70.517.sup.b0.5% SnO.sub.2 1607    1.12  3.18  72.418   1% CoO         1625    0.85  3.09  72.019   1% CaO         1642    0.83  2.96  67.620.sup.b3% SnO.sub.2   1616    0.68  3.32  69.221   1% NiO         1652    0.48  3.34  68.222   1% Sb.sub.2 O.sub.3               1684    0.46  3.40  65.8______________________________________ .sup.a 0.5% platinum. .sup.b Average of 2 runs on different days.
Data for a further series of bimetallic catalysts that were unsuccessfully tested at an air equivalence ratio of 0.7 are set out in Table IV. All of the catalysts contained approximately 0.3 weight percent platinum except where indicated otherwise.
Table IV______________________________________Run    Cocatalyst    Pt     Inlet Temp. °F.                                 Conv. %______________________________________23.sup.a  CuO           0.3%   770       --24.sup.a  1% Bi.sub.2 O.sub.3                0.3%   770       --25.sup.a  1% V.sub.2 O.sub.5                0.3%   732       --26.sup.a  0.3% CuO+  0.3% Cr.sub.2 O.sub.3                0.3%   750       --27.sup.b  0.3% CuO+  0.3% Cr.sub.2 O.sub.3                none   650       --28.sup.b  1% PbO        0.3%   649       --______________________________________ .sup.a Unstable combustion, steady state combustion never reached. .sup.b No combustion.
The data in this table show that some metals that are known to be effective oxidation catalysts are not effective as cocatalysts with platinum in the present substoichiometric process. For example, copper oxide, vanadium oxide, lead oxide and copper chromite are recognized as oxidation catalysts. In contrast, tin oxide which is shown in Table III to be an effective suppressor of carbon monoxide with a platinum oxidation catalyst in substoichiometric combustion, is not itself effective as an oxidation catalyst.
In this experiment a different low heating value gas stream containing higher hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide was used. It contained 5.5 volume percent of a hydrocarbon-carbon monoxide mixture which comprised 67.89 mol percent methane, 7.76 percent ethane, 5.83 percent propane, 7.73 percent n-butane, 5.04 percent n-pentane, 0.96 percent n-hexane and 4.79 mol percent carbon monoxide. The remainder was nitrogen and 400 ppm. hydrogen sulfide. The catalyst, containing about 0.5 percent platinum on an alumina-coated Torvex support, was the same as the catalyst used in Run 15. The operating data over a series of air equivalence ratios are set out in Table V.
Table V______________________________________Temperature, °F.            CO        CO.sub.2Run  AER    Inlet    Outlet                      Mol %   Mol % Conv. %______________________________________29   0.2    650       925  0.10    1.56  18.330   0.3    650      1047  0.68    1.86  25.931   0.4    650      1150  1.76    1.64  36.932   0.5    650      1234  3.20    1.23  59.2 33.sup.a0.6    650      1318  3.64    1.57  81.334   0.7    650      1409  3.11    2.42  85.735   0.8    650      1555  1.77    3.46  ˜100______________________________________ .sup.a Average of 2 runs on different days.
Runs 36-42 were carried out under pressure using an inlet pressure to the reactor of 90 psia. The catalyst again contained about 0.5 percent platinum on an alumina-coated Torvex support. The operating data over a series of air equivalence ratios and gas hourly space velocities (10-3 hr.-1) are set out in Table VI.
Table VI______________________________________  Temperature, °F.             CO        CO.sub.2GHSV  AER    Inlet    Outlet                       Mol %   Mol % Conv. %______________________________________20    0.4    650      1127  1.12    2.06  38.642    0.4    390      1146  0.52    2.41  36.380    0.4    500      1282  0.86    2.09  37.9100   0.4    500      1329  0.81    2.03  36.6 15.sup.a 0.42   500      1075  0.54    2.23  40.8100   0.5    500      1424  1.61    2.00  49.9 25.sup.b 0.61   650      1192  1.01    2.03  66.5______________________________________ .sup.a Gas contained 5.27 percent hydrocarbon and 72 Btu/scf. .sup.b Gas contained 3.7 percent hydrocarbon and 51 Btu/scf.
Runs 43-51 were also carried out at a pressure of 90 psia. in the combustion reactor but using a different catalyst containing about 0.3 percent platinum and about one percent cobalt oxide. The operating data over a series of air equivalence ratios and gas hourly space velocities (10-3 hr.-1) are set out in Table VII.
Table VII______________________________________  Temperature, °F.             CO        CO.sub.2GHSV  AER    Inlet    Outlet                       Mol %   Mol % Conv. %______________________________________ 42.sup.a 0.4    500      1233  0.20    2.89  35.2100.sup.a 0.4    500      1309  0.20    2.43  33.0 42.sup.b 0.4    500      1235  0.21    2.52  33.380    0.4    500      1340  0.38    2.44  33.1140.sup.c 0.4    500      1291  0.32    2.28  32.480    0.6    500      1532  0.68    3.03  53.9 42.sup.d 0.7    525      1446  0.60    3.67  65.442    0.7    650      1605  0.89    3.46  67.580    0.8    500      1760  1.06    3.74  72.1______________________________________ .sup.a At 61 psia. .sup.b Average of 2 runs on different days. .sup.c Gas contained 5.37% hydrocarbon and 73 Btu/scf. .sup.d Gas contained 5,000 ppm. H.sub.2 S.
Several of the bimetallic catalysts, which resulted in the greatest reduction in the production of carbon monoxide, as set forth in Table III were tested to determine the minimum temperature to which a feed gas stream must be heated to maintain continuous combustion. This temperature is designated the light off temperature (L.O.T.). The various light off temperatures and the carbon monoxide produced under the specific conditions of these runs are set out in Table VIII after relatively steady state operation was apparently reached.
Since the light off temperature is an indicator of the relative oxidation activity of a catalyst, the lower the light off temperature the more active the catalyst, this data indicate that the cocatalyst does not promote the oxidation activity of the platinum.
The data in the above examples suggests that the cocatalyst in the bimetallic catalyst does not affect the oxidation reaction per se, but rather that it functions in some other manner to cause a reduction in carbon monoxide such as, for example, by directing the steam reforming reaction and the water gas shift reaction to reduced carbon monoxide levels. When two combustion zones are utilized, the bimetallic catalyst can be used in both combustion zones for reduced carbon monoxide levels. Or, if preferred, for reduced carbon monoxide levels, the bimetallic catalyst can be used in the first combustion zone and a monometallic oxidation catalyst, such as platinum, can be used in the second combustion zone.
The information obtained from these experiments is utilized in an integrated tertiary oil recovery operation by in situ combustion according to the following example.
An in situ fire flood is initiated in an oil zone in an underground petroleum reservoir at an overall depth of about 6,000 feet. Oil production from the formation had been exhausted following secondary recovery by water injection. The fire is initiated in the formation and steady state conditions are reached in about 10 weeks. At this time about 9.1 million scf. per day of air at a temperature of about 200° F. and a pressure of about 3,800 psi. are pumped into the injection well by a multistage compressor, which is driven by a gas turbine. The combusted gas and entrained hydrocarbon liquids are produced in adjacent production wells. The entrained liquids are removed in a separator resulting in about 7.5 million scf. per day of liquid-free, waste flue gas of low heat content. The temperature of this flue gas is about 95° F. and its pressure is about 150 psig. Its average analysis over a 19-day period is about 2.2 percent methane, about 0.5 percent ethane, about 0.4 percent propane, about 0.3 percent butane, about 0.25 percent pentanes, about 0.2 percent hexanes and higher, about 500 ppm. sulfur, about 15 percent carbon dioxide, about one percent argon and the remainder nitrogen. Its average heat content for this 19-day period is about 78 Btu/scf. with a maximum value of about 91 and a minimum value of about 61 during this period.
This flue gas is combusted in two stages. The catalyst in the first stage is a bimetallic oxidation catalyst comprising about one percent cobalt oxide and about 0.3 percent platinum impregnated on an alumina-coated Torvex monolithic ceramic support. The catalyst in the second stage is a monometallic platinum oxidation catalyst comprising about 0.3 percent platinum on the same support as used in the first stage. Over this 19-day period under study the flue gas is combusted by the injection of a constant amount of air, approximately equally divided between the input to each combustion stage, to provide an average air equivalence ratio of about 0.64. As a result the combustion is substoichiometric over the entire 19-day period. The flue gas-air mixture is heated above its ignition temperature by heat exchange with the combusted gas from the first stage before it is introduced into the first combustor. The combusted flue gas is mixed with the second portion of combustion air after the heat exchanger and prior to entering the second combustor. The gas stream leaving the second combustor has a temperature of about 1,550° F. This hot gas stream is used to drive the gas turbine which is designed for an operating temperature of 1,450° F. Therefore, a sufficient quantity of the 200° F. compressed air is bled from the compressed air line and injected into the combusted flue gas prior to the turbine inlet to drop its temperature to about 1,450° F. The combusted flue gas is introduced into the turbine at a pressure of about 90 psia. and exits at near atmospheric pressure. Since the first combustor used the bimetallic catalyst, the turbine exhaust contains less than one percent carbon monoxide permitting it to be vented directly to the atmosphere.
The pressure of the air injected into subterranean deposits of carbonaceous materials will vary over a wide range, such as about 500 psi. to about 5,000 psi. or even wider. The actual pressure used depends on many factors including the depth and down-hole pressure in the formation, the permeability of the formation, the distance between the injection and producing holes, and the like. In any particular recovery operation utilizing in situ combustion the injection pressure limits are a minimum pressure sufficient to obtain adequate flow of gas through the formation and a maximum pressure less than the amount which would crack the formation and permit the air to bypass the combustion zone. There will generally be a substantial diminution of the gas pressure between the injection and production wells, the amount depending on the many variables inherent in the characteristics of the formation as well as the variables in the operating procedures. In order to effectively carry out an integrated operation in which the flue gas under pressure is combusted and used to drive a gas turbine, as described herein, it is desirable that the recovered flue gas possess a pressure of at least about 75 psi.
The air compressor can be operated at a temperature as low as about 1,200° F. or even lower, but since efficiency exhibits a significant drop at the lower temperatures, it is preferred to operate at a temperature at which significant efficiency is obtained, and particularly a temperature of at least about 1,400° F. The maximum temperature is determined by the temperature resistance of the materials from which the turbine is constructed and can be about 2,000° F. or even higher particularly if the compressor is designed with provision for auxiliary cooling but it is preferred that the maximum operating temperature be about 1,800° F. Generally, a large capacity turbine of the type which would be used in the utilization of waste gases from subterranean in situ combustion processes is designed for optimum operation within a specific restricted temperature range.
In the two-stage combustion procedure, it is desirable if at least about one-third of the total air which is to be used in the substoichiometric combustion be added in one combustor, and it is generally preferred that about one-half of this combustion air be added in each combustor. This variation in the amount of combustion air added to each combustor permits the temperature of the waste gas stream, entering the first stage reactor following heat exchange with the combusted gas from the first stage, to be varied. This air that is used for combustion of the waste gas, as well as the air that may be used for cooling the combusted waste gas down to the desired turbine operating temperature, needs to have a pressure only moderately higher than the pressure of the gas streams into which it is injected. For this reason, it is preferred that this air be obtained from a separate low pressure compressor or from a low pressure stage in the multistage compressor rather than using the high pressure air that is obtained for injection into the in situ combustion zone.
As indicated, the temperature of the gas stream following the combustion zone cools down as it flows through the formation so that it is at about the reservoir temperature by the time it is produced. As a result, water vapor in the gas will condense out into the formation prior to the production wells. Additionally, it is believed that sulfur dioxide which may be produced in the underground combustion will remain in the reservior with the water.
As the final stages of the in situ combustion near, the combustion zone approaches a production well and shows its presence by causing a significant temperature elevation. Since some of the down-hole gases are used to replace the hydrocarbons which are displaced in the direction of the production wells, and since some of the gases leak off into other formations, the amount of flue gas will be less than the amount theoretically obtainable from the quantity of injected air.
1. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations which comprises injecting a stream of combustion air into at least one injection well leading to a combustion zone in said subterranean formation, producing liquid hydrocarbons and combustion gas from at least one production well, separating the liquid hydrocarbons from the stream of combustion gas whereby a separated stream of flue gas is obtained having a heating value between about 15 Btu/scf. and about 200 Btu/scf. and containing at least one aliphatic hydrocarbon having from one to about seven carbon atoms, passing said gas stream admixed with air for combustion in contact with at least one supported platinum oxidation catalyst having incorporated therewith at least one metal oxide cocatalyst selected from Groups IA, II, III, VIIB and VIII up through atomic No. 45, the lanthanides, chromium, silver, tin and antimony in at least one combustion zone at a temperature high enough to initiate and maintain combustion of said gas stream, the total amount of combustion air being sufficient to provide an air equivalence ratio between about 0.20 and about 0.90, expanding the gas stream in a gas turbine following said catalyzed combustion; and driving an air compressor with said gas turbine to compress and inject said stream of combustion air into the said subterranean combustion zone.
2. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations in accordance with claim 1 in which methane comprises at least about 50 mol percent of the hydrocarbon component of said flue gas stream.
3. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations in accordance with claim 1 in which the heating value is between about 40 and about 150 Btu/scf.
4. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations in accordance with claim 1 in which the said stream of flue gas is passed over two oxidation catalysts in series in two stages with a maximum of two-thirds of said air for combustion being added to the gas stream prior to one stage and the remainder of said combustion air being added prior to the other stage.
5. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations in accordance with claim 4 in which each of said oxidation catalysts is identical.
6. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations in accordance with claim 4 in which about one-half of the air for combustion is added in each combustion stage.
7. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations in accordance with claim 1 in which the heating value of the flue gas varies with time within the said range of heating value and the amount of air for combustion is substantially constant with time.
8. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations in accordance with claim 7 in which the variation in heating value of the flue gas in combination with the substantially constant air feed rate does not result in a stoichiometric excess of oxygen over a substantial period of time.
9. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations in accordance with claim 1 in which the heating value of said flue gas is less than about 40 Btu/scf. and supplemental fuel is injected into said flue gas to bring the heating value up to about 40 Btu/scf.
10. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations in accordance with claim 1 in which the air for combustion of the flue gas is fed to the flue gas stream at a rate to maintain a substantially constant temperature in the said catalytically combusted flue gas stream for expansion in said gas turbine.
11. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons for subterranean formations in accordance with claim 1 in which said heating value is between about 50 and about 100 Btu/scf.
12. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations in accordance with claim 1 in which the cocatalyst is selected from antimony, nickel, calcium, cobalt and tin.
13. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations in accordance with claim 1 in which the air equivalence ratio is between about 0.40 and about 0.80.
14. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations in accordance with claim 1 in which the pressure of said combusted gas stream is at least about 75 psi.
15. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations in accordance with claim 1 in which the temperature of the combusted flue gas fed to the gas turbine is between about 1,200° and about 2,000° F.
16. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations in accordance with claim 1 in which the temperature of the combusted flue gas fed to the gas turbine is between about 1,400° and about 1,800° F.
17. The in situ combustion process for recovering liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations in accordance with claim 1 in which a stream of cooling air is injected into said combusted flue gas to reduce the gas temperature fed to the turbine.
NL7904785A NL7904785A (en) 1978-07-03 1979-06-19 A method for a combustion in situ for the recovery of liquid hydrocarbons from subterranean formations.


I realized I've posted the 2017 and 2018 editions of the London Django Meetup December quizzes on my blog, but forgot to post the first one in 2016. So here it is reproduced below, if you'd like to play at home or scroll through to the answers to pick up on some more Django trivia.
1. In which city in Kansas was Django conceived?
2. In what year was Django first released?
3. Where was Djangocon EU 2016 held?
4. When does Python 2.7 stop being supported?
5. Which version of Django will drop Python 2 compatibility?
6. Which of these popular sites does not run on Django?
7. What is i18n short for?
8. Which official Django project offers websocket and asynchronous task support?
9. What does SQL stand for?
1. Which database servers does Django core include backends for?
One point each, but minus one for each wrong.
2. Which famous person is Django named after?
Full name and profession each worth one point.
3. What does ORM stand for?
4. What is the name of the single Django fellow working in 2016?
5. What does Django use the SECRET_KEY setting for?
1 point for each use listed in the docs.
2020, as per PEP 0373. No day in the year is specified, though presumably it will be January 1st.
Django 2.0 dropped support for Python 3, as per its release notes.
Only Slideshare doesn't - Instagram, Bitbucket, and Disqus are all Django applications!
Internationalization - the 18 stands for "18 removed letters".
The famous person was Jean "Django" Reinhardt, and he was a Jazz Guitarist.
Tim Graham, who recently decided to step down after many years of contributing. We'll miss you Tim!
Hope you enjoyed doing/reading/skimming this quiz, and learned something!


text:
TRUMP PARDONS FORMER REP. HUNTER FOR CAMPAIGN FINANCE CRIMES
Duncan D. Hunter
Duncan Hunter pardon
President also pardons other high-level allies and Blackwater guards who committed massacre in Iraq
Trump has also pardoned Margaret Hunter
Story and file photo by Miriam Raftery
December 22, 2020 (Washington D.C.) --- East County's former Congressman Duncan D. Hunter won't be reporting to prison in Texas in January. Today, President Donald Trump delivered an early Christmas gift to Hunter and other Republican allies, issuing pardons for their crimes.
Hunter, a staunch Trump supporter and Republican from Alpine, pleaded guilty in late 2019 to conspiracy to diverting a quarter million dollars in campaign funds for personal use, but his sentencing was delayed due to COVID-19 in La Tuna, the federal penitentiary near El Paso. He resigned soon after, forcing constituents to be without representation for a full year that proved to be tumultous amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Congressman-elect Darrell Issa, a Republican who won election in November to fill the seat vacated by Hunter, praised the action. He tweeted, "I'm pleased that all of the Hunter family can spend this Christmas together with a fresh outlook on life."
But many others voiced outrage - even California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring, who tweeted of the Congressional pardons, "Put me down as opposed to all of these. Especially Hunter, who was my Congressman. Our elected officials should be held to a higher, not lower, standard than the average citizen, who would never have been pardoned for similar crimes."
But Carl DeMaio, a conservative radio host and Republican who also ran for Hunter's seat in the primary, denounced the pardon. On Twitter, DeMaio said the pardon "sends absolutely te wrong message that politicians can break the law but can easily avoid any punishment when they do so. Politicians should be held accountable for following the laws that all of us citizens have to follow--no exceptions. Today's decision will simply reinforce the clear impression that ordinary citizens have that the Washington DC Swamp Creatures protect themselves, receive special exemptions, and enjoy double standards.
Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, who ran against Hunter in 2018 and against Issa for the vacant seat in November 2020, also condemned the pardon, tweeting, "That Donald Trump would pardon the lawless, reckless and shameful actions of Duncan Hunter is both disappointing and predictable. Hunter stole form his supporters, blamed his wife, left an entire district without representation for a year, and launched the most xenophobic attack in modern politics." He said the pardon sets a "dangerous example," adding,"Trump's disregard for the law is absolute. President-Elect Joe Biden's swearing-in cannot come soon enough; we need his leadership to restore the soul of America now more than ever."
Hunter's wife, Margaret recently filed for divorce against her ex-husband, who initially blamed her for the campaign finance violations even though some of the misspent funds included trysts with Hunter's mistresses, according to federal prosecutors. Margaret Hunter also pleaded guilty but received probation.
Two other corrupt former members of Congress, Chris Collins of New York and Steve Stockman of Texas, also got pardons. The other two are currently serving prison sentences. Stockman was convicted of money laundering and fraud; Collins pled guilty to conspiring to commit securities fraud and lying to the F.B.I.
Trump also pardoned George Papadapoulos, his 2016 campaign's former foreign policy advisor, and attorney Alex van der Zwann. Both served brief prison stints for lying to federal investigators during special counsel Robert Mueller's inquiry into the Trump campaign's dealings with Russia.
In addition, the President pardoned four Blackwater security guards convicted of instigating a massacre and killing innocent Iraqi civilians – men the U.S. Justice Department had aggressively prosecuted for their crimes. All were serving lengthy prison terms.
These were among at least 15 pardons listed today. The president previously pardoned 28 others, largely cronies and supporters, including former National Security advisor Michael Flynn, who pled guilty to lying to authorities during the Special Counsel investigation of the Trump campaign.
We're just getting started!
Submitted by 8East on Thu, 12/24/2020 - 14:58
Barack Obama granted clemency to over 1900 people during his two terms. Some very questionable. Trump is at around 90 people as of today. But the media won't tell you that story. They'll pearl clutch and make it seem as if Trump is abusing his clemency power.
There is a big difference in these pardons and those of the past
Submitted by miriamg on Tue, 12/29/2020 - 07:47
in that Trump has primarily pardoned his own co-conspirators, friends, campaign donors and cronies. While some have occasionally pardoned a friend, most past pardons focused on people who had been convicted under dubious circumstances or who had served time and turned their lives around for the better. I can't recall any president ever pardoning people accused of conspiring to cover up crimes committed by the president or people in his own campaign, which smacks of self-dealing and corruption.
And Atlas Shrugged
Submitted by Harold Peretesticles on Wed, 12/23/2020 - 08:18
all along since day one....the Trump administration was not so much a body politic but a poison dart with a delayed reaction which left us as a nation, cynical though we like to portray ourselves, as visibly uncertain at how to extrapolate not WHAT WAS HAPPENING IN REAL-TIME AS PER OUR DEMOCRATIC TRADITION, but grasping uncertainly for whatever device pleased our new Soverign...he reduced freedom-loving and hard-working people with indolent steeple, transforming the rich into God's of the Earth and the poor to be sacrificed like cattle to feed his revolution from above...he used as his textbook, I am firmly, the Short Course of the Soviet Union as written by its then Dictator and Lord-of-the-Realm, Josef Stalin....look into this "rambling" of mine via Wikipedia if you can even remember how, Americans, before you scoff and regurgitate the same stale lies we've been feasting on for over a year...how many of us on the street level of grassroots politics, radicals taking the fight to the New Elite as they rode roughshod over human rights and a hundred years of crucial civil rights reforms like the Gestapo and the NKVD they have been modeled from....how many police officers and families succumbed to a slight permutation of a cold that kills roughly the same number every YEAR that this "Pandemic" is claiming while I write this in a genuine patriots living room....how many scars have we, the poor, to show on our bodies and faces, missing teeth and limbs and loved ones, compared to the New Nomenklatura of Trumps New America...where veterans are forgotten conveniently if they served the department of defense after the war and quit for conscientious reasons (I quit the HAARP program as an armed security officer after the Fukushima reactor meltdown caused by a tsunami initiated by us while testing our much-trumpeted "secret weapon".....shortly afterwards in a case that made the Northern California Press Democrat newspaper, my 37 year old wife developed an easily-avoided and publicly developing case of typhoid fever induced by the loudly advertised and brazenly venal and corrupt rich landlord who wouldn't install a sewer ejector and a family of three underage girls and a 37 year old mother with her 36 year old partner became infected by the black mold and hysteria promulgated by the landlords delaying court action while hiring local "motorcycle club" enthusiasts recently released from jail and prison to shake up our 9 year old mentally ill daughter and to destroy evidence as it developed in order to avoid paying the fines necessary to bring a domicile of critical importance to the children and recovering adults in the house to codes exemplifying the sort of standards even a public toilet gets in California. She developed typhoid fever, turning into hepatic metastases into colon cancer and to a rate for of cancer which rendered her a frightening and evil witch who terrified and confused her children and turning the entire scene into a morbid and tasteless comedy where her partner, in this case myself, found himself in the end having sacrificed my opportunities for self-aggrandizement by returning to the defense industry fold wherebi would be willing to work in abnormal and inhumane conditions which made watching the deaths of thousands of people on TV every time we fired the weapon system on Shemya at the end of the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea an almost weekly affair
Submitted by MJ on Wed, 12/23/2020 - 02:01
Corruption gets rewarded in the GOP. Now, they aren't even trying to hide it. Disgustingly un-American.
Under the bus for Christmas
Submitted by stalbaum on Tue, 12/22/2020 - 19:40
You will all recall how Congressperson Hunter at first courageously leveled all blame against his wife. Well as it turns out, she is serving her home detention sentence. And Duane? A Christmas miracle! There is your Republican family holiday story for 2020. I can't wait for the Hallmark special.
Hmmm 1 day 9 hours ago
what a waste of money 4 days 12 hours ago

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Maryland Small Ruminant Page
2012 Pen vs. Pasture Study
Consigners to the 2012 Western Maryland Pasture-Based Meat Goat Performance Test provided thirty (mostly Kiko) bucks for this year's pen vs. pasture study. Fifteen bucks were put in a pen for hay and grain feeding. The other fifteen were mixed in with the bucks in the performance test. The allocation to treatment groups was random.
The pen-fed goats were hand-fed grain once per day, based on appetite, the amount they could clean up in 20 minutes. The grain ration was composed of 4 parts whole barley to 1 part protein (38%) pellet. The bucks also had free choice grass hay and minerals. The hay was a first cutting made from the same pastures that are used in the performance test.
The bucks allocated to the pasture group grazed alongside the 49 bucks in the performance test. They had free choice minerals, but did not receive any supplemental feed. The bucks in the study, along with the bucks in the test, were weighed and handled every two weeks. The same data and samples were collected from all the goats.
On June 2, all of the goats were triple-dosed with dewormers (moxidectin + albendazole + levamisole), which resulted in a fecal egg count reduction of nearly 100 percent by June 14. While the bucks in the test received an artificial dose of worm larvae, the bucks in the study did not. After a 12-day adjustment period, the bucks consumed their respective diets for 84 days.
On September 7, all of the bucks were transported to Country Foods, a custom-exempt abattoir in Waynesboro (PA), for same day slaughter. The chilled carcasses were deboned and measured six days later. A sample of the longissimus dorsi was removed from each carcass and is being analyzed by the University of Maryland for fatty acid content.
In contrast with last year's study, the pasture-raised goats had a higher rate-of-gain than the pen-fed goats (0.183 vs. 0.149 lbs. per day). However, the pen-fed goats had lower worm burdens, as evidenced by lower average fecal egg counts (565 vs. 1163 epg) and lower average FAMACHA© scores (1.6 vs. 1.8).
None of the pen-fed goats required deworming, whereas eleven anthelmintic treatments were administered to the pasture-fed goats. There were no differences in body condition, coat condition, or dag scores among the goats in the two groups. At the end of the feeding perid, the goats in both groups had similar USDA live grades (mostly Selection 2-3).
Though there were differences among individual goats, carcass data did not differ between the two groups. Dressing percentage averaged 42.6 percent. Goats in both groups had an average rib eye area of 1.5 square inches.
The pen-fed goats did not get as fat as last year's pen-fed goats, having only slightly more fat in their carcasses (2.44 vs. 2.04 percent) than the pasture-fed goats.
The pen-fed goats had only slightly more kidney and heart fat (1.66 vs. 1.50 percent). Ironically, the "fattest" goat in the study was a pasture-fed goat with 2.83 percent KH and 6.18 percent overall fat.
The yield of boneless, fat-free meat did not vary between the groups, averaging 18.7 percent. The best carcasses were produced by the two Myotonic bucks in the study. The highest yielding goat (24.2%) in the study was the pen-fed Mytonic. A Myotonic also had the highest yield (22.8%) in the pasture group.
While the economics of different production systems will vary by farm, the pen-fed goats in this year's study failed to perform at a level necessary to compensate for their higher feed costs. This year, pasture-rearing proved to be more economical, though neither group had many goats that would have been deemed market-ready (Selection 1-2).
On the other hand, the pen-fed goats had lower worm burdens and did not require any anthelmintic treatments. Internal parasitism is a major obstacle to the profitable rearing of goat kids on pasture.
Pending funding, we hope to repeat the study in 2013, with some important changes. Instead of grass hay, we plan to feed a good quality mixed hay. The grain ration would be whole barley, without any additional supplement. The goats will be obtained from a single source. Treatment groups will be better balanced, because despite similarity in starting weights, there is considerable variation in how individual goats perform.
This year's study was funded by the Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board. It was conducted at the University of Maryland's Western Maryland Research & Education Center in Keedysville.
© 2020 Maryland Small Ruminant Page. Created with Wix.com by Susan Schoenian.


keep the aroused gumdrops as a soft breeze of air allows them to remain at attention. Thighs parted and already between two glossy lips rest friend number 1 enjoying the sudden rush of excitement. Entering at a slow and steady pace, working with the currents of the river. Neck exposed wishing for a rainfall of kisses against it, only to held firmly by hands of a more feminine nature. The flowing of streams, sounds of water against friend number 1, the mind becomes vivid in imagination as friend number 2 begins the teasing at the tip. Maximum pleasure is provided as one enters and one helps maintain the stimulation. The concentration it takes as hands hold both friends and the mind wonders off. Images of hard, mocha colored gods exposing their chiseled bodies as sweat hangs against their skin. Eyes watching, rolling over this sun kissed body, feeling hands touching everywhere. Lips begging to be tasted, feeling the back arching as eyes close. Thighs tighten up, a pulse increasing its reps. Tighter and tighter she becomes, harder and harder one enters, intensifying the vibrations at the tip. Repeating "yes, please take it" over and over and over again until… Ooooooo until I'm relieved from today's stressors. Wine can't do everything.
Next Post Why wasn't it me?


text:
'use strict';

var chai   = require('chai');
var expect = chai.expect;
var sinon  = require('sinon');

var errorsHandler = require('../lib/errorsHandler');

describe('errorsHandler', () => {
    describe('rpcError', () => {
        var rpcError  = errorsHandler.rpcError;
        var Status    = function() {
            this.json = function() {};
        };
        var res;
        var spyJson;

        beforeEach(() => {
            spyJson = {
                json : sinon.spy()
            };

            res = {
                status : function() {
                    return spyJson;
                }
            };

            sinon.spy(res, 'status');
        });

        afterEach(() => {
            res.status.restore();
        });

        it('404 --> should set message to "not found" NO message passed', () => {
            rpcError({code : 404}, res);

            expect(res.status.getCall(0).args[0]).equal(404);
            expect(res.status().json.getCall(0).args[0]).deep.equal({code:404, message : 'Not found'});
        });

        it('404 --> should set message to message passed', () => {
            rpcError({code : 404, message:'Houston we got a problem'}, res);

            expect(res.status().json.getCall(0).args[0]).deep.equal({code:404, message : 'Houston we got a problem'});
        });

        it('should set message to code and message passed', () => {
            rpcError({code : 304, message:'Not allowed'}, res);

            expect(res.status.getCall(0).args[0]).equal(304);
            expect(res.status().json.getCall(0).args[0]).deep.equal({code:304, message : 'Not allowed'});
        });

        it('should set code to 500 if no code passed', () => {
            rpcError({message:'Something went really bad'}, res);

            expect(res.status.getCall(0).args[0]).equal(500);
            expect(res.status().json.getCall(0).args[0]).deep.equal({message : 'Something went really bad'});
        });
    });
});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Using hand held weights, strengthen your whole body. A 45 minute fun and challenging course run over 6 weeks.
Box yourself fit and toned, get your gloves on!
This class concentrates on those problem areas – bums, legs and tummy.
Hey presto, flat abs, strong back – come and have a ball!
Get out of the gym and into the pool for this gently but effective water based workout.
A fun and challenging indoor cycling class that is guaranteed to burn calories fast and condition your body.
Cycling simulation Class on specially designed bikes. Non impact quality CV workout. First timers must arrive 15 mins before class.
Combination Circuit training style class with some punch bag & pad stations.
A wonderful way to intorduce free-weight training effectively. Selection of resistance levels (coloured bars).
Focus on mid section, abs, back, core strength & toning.


text:
Solar Power as a Design Challenge
Clark Miller and Joey Eschrich, editors of Cities of Light, recently gave a talk at the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts on one of the book's central themes: the design challenge of deploying sufficient solar energy to achieve global carbon neutrality.
How do we put billions of solar panels down in the world?
How do we integrate them into the social, economic, infrastructural, and ecological landscapes of future societies?
What financial, labor, and cultural design options do we have for solar energy–and how does each distribute the benefits, costs, and risks of energy systems?
How do we imagine, ahead of time, what solar futures might look like and what it might be like for diverse groups of people to inhabit them?
Democracy & the Future of Energy
User-Centered Solar Energy


text:
Head of the Schuylkill Among Cancelled Philly Events
The Head of the Schuylkill Regatta is among the events that were cancelled by the city of Philadelphia Tuesday when it announced that all large outdoor events were banned through February.
According to HOSR executive director Jennifer Wesson, the decision was made to cancel the regatta Monday after talking with city officials about their plans to ban all large public events into early next year.
"I have to say that this is where we thought we would be earlier this year," Wesson said. "We have been planning a number of different scenarios over the last few months. We were hoping to have a singles only regatta, possibly a masters only regatta, but at this point in time, based on the current conditions and forecasts, and forever changing information, it was difficult to see a way forward without losing the spirit of the regatta.
"We talked with the city yesterday, and we were happy that they stepped up and made a decision.
Wesson said plans are being made to hold a virtual regatta. "So, we will have a virtual race and if you're one of those that are able to participate on an erg, there will be live race times during HOSR weekend. Then we will set up, typical to what others are doing right now, participation for runs and bikes, and making it inclusive event," she said.
"We are going to make an announcement in the next couple of days about there being no on site regatta, and details to come on a virtual, inclusive event."
Though not listed in the original news reports, the fall regattas, including the Head of the Schuylkill and Navy Day Regatta, were expected to be among those eliminated along with all other any large outdoor events through February, including the Philadelphia Marathon, Thanksgiving Day Parade, and iconic New Year's Mummers Parade, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.


At ACG Building we will help you with your commercial building project to create a productive environment for you and your staff to work in and a premises that will attract your customers.
Whether you want to renovate/build a new restaurant, cafe or office, you can count on our commercial builders to get the job done. We will take the time to understand the practical needs of your business and what you want out of it, and work to design and execute the most efficient plan possible.


One of the most prominent elements in the table table setting for one's wedding, the towel. And you can do a thousand things with a napkin, so there is good opportunity to be creative. The trend of them all is fabric napkins. So we have gathered ten ways you can use fabric napkins in table table setting, so you will have created the right look.
It is easy to fold, and then you can easily let other elements recur in other parts of the table table setting, for example, to use leather cord or grocery string to tie around the jar with flowers. It is also possible to make the look either quite tight and minimalist or more bulky and romantic.
This simple napkin fold creates a simple, minimalist look and provides a good opportunity to be other elements on top, such as cutlery, an attic or a menu. These two look, created by Broste Copenhagen , really fine with its tone on tone.
Use the towel to fold a geometric figure, for example to put under the plate. It's different and special fine if you do not have dew on as it is to frame each room.
Fold a pocket out of the towel, and place, for example, cutlery, an attic, a menu or a little surprise to the guests therein.
The knot has really become a hit and we predict that the popularity will continue in 2017. It is easy to fold and you can make it more or less voluminous in the term.
Copyright © 2017 Vivi Dress South Africa All rights reserved.


text:
The Pennsylvania State University, Chemistry
Position ID: The Pennsylvania State University-Chemistry-DIRGENCHEM19 [#14821]
Position Title: Director of General CHemistry Lab
Position Location: University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States [map]
Subject Area: Chemistry / Chemistry
Appl Deadline: (posted 2019/10/04, updated 2019/09/25, listed until 2020/03/25)
The Department of Chemistry at The Pennsylvania State University seeks outstanding applicants to apply for their Director of General Chemistry Labs position. The appointment will be at the rank of Assistant Teaching, Associate Teaching, or Teaching Professor dependent upon the candidate's qualifications and experience. The primary responsibility of the Director is to provide leadership and overall management to the general chemistry lab program. This includes curriculum development; participation in a new Freshman Research Initiative; the selection, hiring, training, and supervision of Teaching Assistants (TAs) and lab supervisors and related administrative work; the acquisition of new instrumentation; management of program finances; and the pursuit of funding from internal and external sources. Mentoring of undergraduate students in research related to the development of new labs is expected and teaching general chemistry courses is possible. Our general chemistry program currently involves eight different lab courses, over 50 TAs, and serves ~2,000 students per semester. A $10M+ renovation of the general chemistry laboratory facilities was completed in 2016.
The Director is expected to work together with the directors of other chemistry lab courses, including analytical, organic, and physical chemistry, to provide a strong, comprehensive, and integrated lab program for students. The Director is expected to set a standard of excellence, to maintain this standard through continuous improvements, and to share notable achievements through conference presentations and publications.
Competitive applicants should have a Ph.D. in chemistry or closely related field, an outstanding record of teaching accomplishments, an innovative future teaching plan, and be capable of achieving teaching excellence at the undergraduate level. As a college, the Eberly College of Science takes an active role in building a talented and inclusive workforce. Applicants should possess a commitment to fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment in their department and college. In addition to completing a Penn State application, an application must be submitted at https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/14821. The application materials should include a cover letter, current CV, and a statement of teaching philosophy which also addresses teaching within a multicultural and diverse community of students, staff, and faculty. Applicants will also need to arrange for three reference letters to be submitted to Academic Jobs Online. Review of applications will begin November 15, 2019, and the search will continue until the position is filled. Penn State is responsive to the needs of dual career couples. For more information on the Penn State Chemistry Department, visit https://science.psu.edu/chem. Apply online at https://psu.jobs/job/91115
To review the Annual Security Report which contains information about crime statistics and other safety and security matters and policies, please go to https://police.psu.edu/annual-security-reports, which will also explain how to request a paper copy of the Annual Security Report.
Penn State is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, and is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.
Three or More Reference Letters (to be submitted online by the reference writers at this site )
http://www.chem.psu.edu/
Faculty Search Committee
104 Chemistry Building


Whistler Public Library (WPL) is holding its Fourth Annual Young Adult Writing Contest (YAWC) and encouraging Whistler youth to share their creativity and talents with the entire community. Kids, ages 12-18, are invited to enter poetry or an original short story in the upcoming contest. Submissions will be accepted until Oct. 31, 2003, and winners will be announced shortly thereafter. Contest entry forms are now available to be picked up at the Whistler Public Library. The contest is divided into four categories: short story for ages 12-14, short story for ages 15-18 and poetry for ages 12-14, and 15-18. Contest winners will receive $75, $40 and $25 for first, second and third prize, respectively. All winning entries will be published on the library's Web site.
Accompanying the Young Adult Writing Contest is a Creative Writing Workshop to be held on Thursday, Oct. 23 from 7 to 9 p.m., at the library. This interactive workshop, run by a member of the Whistler Writers Group, will give the contestants an excellent opportunity to polish their work, and explore new writing styles. If any of the contest participants would like to have their work edited during the workshop, please hand in your work to the library before Oct. 23. The workshop is a separate and yet related event, however, one does not have to sign up for the session in order to participate in the YAWC. Similarly, you don't have to enter the contest to be eligible to sign up for the workshop. Pre-registration is required. Call 604-932-5564.
So, if you like mysterious or entertaining stories, ghazaal or free verse poetry, and above all, like to write, then enter the Whistler Public Library's Young Adult Writing Contest. Contact Agnes Gorgon, Children's Librarian at 604-932-5564 or e-mail: agorgon@whistlerlibrary.ca for more information.
Join our Children's Librarian, Agnes Gorgon, for a special Halloween program for 3-6 year olds and their caregivers. There will be spooktacular stories, songs, rhymes and a craft to celebrate Halloween. Pre-registration required. Date: Saturday, Oct. 25 from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Check out www.whistlerlibrary.ca - About the Library — Programs and Events for what is happening at the library.


Except where other sources are cited, the contents of this website are the property of INEGI (Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica e Gestão Industrial – Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management).
The website's contents can be downloaded, saved, printed or reproduced for personal, non-commercial use or in non-profit projects. However, it is always necessary to indicate the source from which the material has been derived.
It is strictly forbidden to copy or reproduce all or part of the contents of this website for commercial use or to present the information in other websites. The creation, for commercial purposes, of content from HTML, pages, texts, images or graphics presented on Wines of Portugal is also forbidden.
All requests for permission to use content should be addressed to Instituto da Vinha e do Vinho (telephone number: +351 21 350 67 00) or by e-mail (in the subject field, please state: request for permission to use content).


Serving in World War II was a profoundly affecting experience for Alex Colville. He was 22 years old when he enlisted in 1942, just out of university and newly married. He joined the Canadian Infantry and rose through the ranks to a commission as a second lieutenant. In 1944, he was flown to London to take an appointment as an official War Artist. Travelling to Yorkshire, the Mediterranean, the Netherlands and northern Germany, he worked meticulously to record what he saw: the men, the machines and the devastation. In April 1945, he was dispatched to the liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany, where he witnessed graphic evidence of the Holocaust that would haunt him for his entire life.
Alex Colville, Infantry, near Nijmegen, Holland 1946 Oil on canvas 101.6 × 121.9 cm Beaverbrook Collection of War Art Canadian War Museum 19710261-2079 © A.C. Fine Art Inc.
Colville completed this painting in Ottawa in 1946, after returning home from the front. He based the face of the first soldier on his father, who he saw as the embodiment of a leader. His wife, Rhoda, also recognized the hands of this figure as Colville's own.
Alex Colville, The Nijmegen Bridge, Holland, 1946. Oil on canvas 91.6 × 122.7 cm. Beaverbrook Collection of War Art, Canadian War Museum (19710261-2094). © A.C. Fine Art Inc.
Bridges appeared in Alex Colville's paintings throughout his career. They signal important transitions – comings and goings, often into the unknown. Colville grew up surrounded by the sights and sounds of steelwork construction: his father, David Colville, worked for the Dominion Bridge Company. Later, as a War Artist, Colville often painted bridges, especially while in the Netherlands. He was drawn to the modern machinery and infrastructure of war, painting crossings but also tanks, guns, planes and jeeps. After arriving home, his keen interest in the way human transportation intersects the landscape continued. For Colville, the flat, open landscape of the marshes surrounding Sackville recalled the Netherlands.
Alex Colville, Bodies in a grave, Belsen, 1946. Oil on canvas 76.3 x 101.6 cm. Beaverbrook Collection of War Art, Canadian War Museum (19710261-2033) © A.C. Fine Art Inc.
Alex Colville, Belsen Concentration Camp 1946 Watercolour ink on paper Courtesy of A.C. Fine Art Inc. © A.C. Fine Art Inc.
Second Lieutenant D. Alex Colville.
CWM 20040082-058 © Canadian War Museum.
Official news photo of Lieutenant D.A. Colville painting in western Germany near the borders of Belgium and Holland, January 1945.
Captain D.A. Colville at work in Ottawa, in front of his completed Infantry Near Nijmegen, Holland, 1946.
Colville working on his painting Bodies in a Grave, 1946.
This Canadian Army newsreel from 1945 shows Lieutenant D. Alexander Colville, amongst others, working in the field as a war artist.
Credit: DND-MND, Canadian Armed Forces – Forces armées canadiennes, Canada.


text:
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
Read by Hugh Ross
As intriguing today as when it was first published, Hume's An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding is a fascinating exploration into the nature of human knowledge. Using billiard balls, candles and other colourful examples, Hume conveys the core of his empiricism: that true knowledge can only be gained through sensory experience. No other philosopher has been at the forefront of the mind than David Hume; physics, psychology, neuroscience – connections to Hume are everywhere. Here is the book that Immanuel Kant confessed had awoken him from his 'dogmatic slumber'.
Digital ISBN: 978-1-84379-788-3
Cat. no.: NA0157
Download size: 93 MB
BISAC: PHI000000
Buy on CD at Downpour.com↗
Beyond Good and Evil
Descartes – An Introduction
A History of Western Philosophy
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Hugh Ross
Hugh Ross trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and has worked extensively in theatre, film and television. Theatre credits include The Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre, A Prayer for Owen Meany at the Royal National Theatre, and Bent at Trafalgar Studios. He has acted in Charlotte Grey and Trainspotting, among other films. His television work includes Sea of Souls, Lovejoy and Absolutely Fabulous for the BBC. Hugh is also active as a director, with credits including After Liverpool with The Royal Shakespeare Company. He has also read Aristotle: An Introduction for Naxos AudioBooks.
Titles read by Hugh Ross
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (unabridged)
Aristotle – An Introduction (unabridged)
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion and The Natural History of Religion (unabridged)
The Empty House and Other Stories (unabridged)
From Shakespeare – with love (selections)
On the Nature of Things (unabridged)
Stories from Shakespeare – The Plantagenets (unabridged)
Titles by David Hume
Hugh Ross reads Hume's brief but important philosophical tract as the philosopher himself might, thinking his ideas through as he speaks, explaining them in an avuncular fashion, sounding as if he's anxious to make them understood – while his skeptical inquiry devastatingly undermines cause and effect, free will, miracles, and skepticism. Ross's use of intonation, emphasis, and expressiveness to mirror and, in a way, explicate the sense of the text is highly skilled. His British-accented voice is pleasant and clear, and his manner accessible, fitting Hume's essayistic tone and famous clarity of style (though the arguments do demand close attention). Hume's writing and Ross's expressive rendering make listening to this text an enjoyable, thought-provoking walk to the edge of an epistemological cliff and over.
W.M., AudioFile
See more Philosophy


The New Politics of Climate Change | "Global Possibilities"
There were some elections last week in the United States.The results were pretty good for the climate-concerned. Democrats swept into the House of Representatives, winning nearly 40 seats in the chamber. For the first time since 2010, the chair of the House Science Committee will affirm the reality of human-caused climate change.It was a fine Tuesday, in other words, for the day-to-day climate advocacy of the Democratic Party. And since Democrats also won a majority of state attorney-general slots, it was an even better Tuesday for their power to fight Trump's climate agenda in court. In fact, it's entirely possible that, for Americans who care about climate change, it was the best Tuesday since November 8, 2016.But it wasn't perfect. Climate change needs more than day-to-day partisan advocacy. As I've written before, Democrats lack a climate strategy: While the party's leaders preach about the problem's urgency, it's unclear what they actually want to do next time they control Congress and the White House. Democrats have also allowed nonpartisan economists to dominate climate-policy conversations, leading to proposals that inspire nobody but other nonpartisan economists. Democrats also lack an obvious path to near-term power in the Senate, making sweeping climate legislation unlikely.
Democrats have many problems, in other words. Meanwhile the Earth will keep warming.
But Democrats are not the only ones flailing. In the wake of President Trump's victory, climate advocates across the political spectrum have cast about for paths forward—and they have assembled (loosely) into a few different teams. Each is built around what might be called a theory of change: If we only got everyone on board with this plan, then we could finally pass a big climate policy in the United States. These camps make up the climate battle that happens behind the scenes.
Last Tuesday was only one election, encompassing thousands of candidates who campaigned on issues that mostly weren't climate change. It would be ludicrous to try to extract lasting takeaways for the climate movement from that range of specific, never-to-be-repeated contests. It would generate some flawed conclusions. It might even be a fundamentally silly exercise. But let's try it anyway. I looked closely at climate advocates' theories of change, to see which could claim vindication from the midterm results, and I'm not sure a single one emerged looking vastly stronger and more obviously correct than it did before.
One popular argument holds that climate change will only be solved by working across the aisle. This camp has long rallied around the Climate Solutions Caucus, a group of House members that stayed perfectly bipartisan by design: A Democrat could only join the group if he or she convinced a Republican to join too (and vice versa). Though committed to no particular policy, the caucus was affiliated with the Citizens' Climate Lobby, a similarly nonpartisan association that calls for a carbon fee. The caucus has never passed legislation, but it seemed popular, and by last month it could boast 90 members.
Yet in the election, it hemorrhaged members—and lost its cofounder. Carlos Curbelo, a moderate Republican from South Florida, helped establish the caucus two years ago; he also proposed a symbolic carbon-tax bill this summer that, while criticized by many environmentalists, would have allowed the United States to meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement. Curbelo lost his election, and a Democrat will represent his district next year.
This destruction doesn't bode well for #TeamBipartisan. Curbelo's apparent concern for the climate did not help him last Tuesday—nor did it make the Democratic Party less aggressive about pursuing his seat. So barring something unprecedented—like a bunch of Republicans from deep-red districts suddenly deciding to address climate change specifically—the results suggest that a bipartisan, caucus-based approach to fixing climate change is unstable. Democrats will always try to pick off the GOP's moderates, on climate change or any other issue. And as the Republican party becomes even Trumpier, and the number of moderates in Congress continues to decline, a bipartisan caucus seems far more likely to provide flimsy cover for endangered suburban Republicans than to lead to substantive legislative opportunities for climate-concerned Democrats.Theory 2: Think globally, act municipallyOver the last two years, powerful progressives have insisted that cities and states—and especially blue states—are now leading the fight against climate change. Twenty states and 50 major cities have vowed to honor the Paris Agreement and attempt to cut their carbon emissions. Michael Bloomberg even sorta, kinda represents this group internationally as the UN Special Envoy for Climate Action. "We're going to do everything America would have done if it had stayed committed," he said last year.Yet last week, one of the most progressive and outdoorsy states in the country defeated a ballot question that would have established America's first carbon tax. Initiative 1631 in Washington State would have charged companies $15 for every ton of carbon pollution they emit, then spent the windfall on solar and wind energy, new transit projects, and wilderness conservation. It was endorsed by every major environmental group, every major civil-rights group, 19 local tribal nations, Bill Gates, and—in case liberals weren't convinced—REI.Statewide, Democrats trounced in last week's elections: Almost 59 percent of voters re-elected the Democrat Maria Cantwell to the U.S. Senate. Yet nearly the same number, 56 percent, rejected the carbon-tax measure. It doesn't exactly inspire confidence in the "states and cities" plan.Now, Washington is not necessarily an ideal test case for carbon-tax advocates. Even among progressives, there's a high degree of opposition to any kind of taxes in the state: Washington is one of seven states in the unionthat does not levy an income tax. In the last century, its voters have rejected revenue-raising ballot questions 75 percent of the time.But at the same time, it's not like the state is a crimson-red redoubt full of hippie-hating shut-ins. The state gives Trump some of his worst approval numbers. "Doing fun stuff in nature" is basically the Evergreen State's unofficial civic religion. Washingtonians are slightly more likely than Americans as a whole to express concern about global warming. Yet three times in the last two years, its voters or legislators have nixed an innovative new climate law.
Nearly two years after Trump's inauguration, there's still only one state—California—that can claim to have anything like a robust, economy-wide climate program. And while California's policies have been expanded and strengthened by a Democratic "trifecta," one of its most important climate laws was signed into law in 2006 by a moderate Republican governor. (Albeit a very unusual Republican—a former movie star who would probably not be a Republican today.)Nick Abraham, who organized the ballot campaign in Washington, told me that the difficulty lay in converting urban support for climate policy into state-level victories."The wider you go, the harder this thing is," he said. He pointed to a successful ballot question in Portland, Oregon, that imposed a new tax on large retailers to fund wind and solar projects. "I'm sure we won Seattle by the same margin that Portland won their initiative," he said.Theory 3: The Exxon of my enemy is my friendSome have argued that fossil-fuel companies are key to combating climate change. ExxonMobil, Shell, and BP have all called for a carbon tax in the United States. Last month, Exxon even donated $1 million to the nonprofit that supports their preferred plan; BP's chief executive has promised to cut emissions and made concerned noises about climate change to The New York Times."A company getting behind its product being taxed is a very rare thing," remarked Lawrence Summers, the Harvard economist and former treasury secretary, after the Exxon news broke. "This reflects a new and important awareness that we have to do big things about climate."Yet those same fossil-fuel companies bankrolled the campaign against Washington's proposed carbon tax. BP dumped $13 million into the state in order to block the measure—even though it claims to support a carbon tax. Overall, a handful of oil companies spent $31 million to defeat the initiative, making it the most expensive ballot-question fight in Washington State history.The scale of that spend will only increase suspicions that the oil industry's claimed support for climate policy is not in good faith. And it will intensify pressure on Democrats to swear off all donations from fossil-fuel companies.Theory 4: A tax by any other name would be more sweetFor decades, economists have favored carbon prices because they create disincentives for carbon emissions, without picking technological winners and losers among alternate energy sources. The most famous scholar of carbon taxes won a Nobel Prize in economics this year. But American voters have not had the same ardor for the idea, even when they love renewable energy (which carbon taxes will support) and want to regulate carbon emissions (which carbon taxes do). And some critics, especially on the left, have recently grown skeptical of the policy as a cure-all for climate change. They do not reject carbon taxes entirely, but insist that they should be one small aspect of a much more ambitious platform.
These policies were not victorious everywhere. A pro-renewables measure failed in Arizona after the state utility spent $54 million to oppose it. Yet at least for now, climate kludges seem to be more popular than carbon prices. And researchers are adapting. On the morning after the election, the Carnegie Mellon University energy economist Costa Samaras rattled off a long list of policies on Twitter that he implied would now take center stage in a climate policy. They included new tax credits, loan guarantees, and subsidized purchase of electric-vehicle fleets.
So where does all this lead? I suspect we already have a preview. Exactly one week after the election, nearly 200 activists held a demonstration at Nancy Pelosi's office on Capitol Hill. They called for House Democrats to begin generating a "Green New Deal": a comprehensive strategy on climate change that would rival "Medicare for All" in its aspirational but policy-dense pithiness. They demanded broad but often easy-to-visualize goals, like generating 100 percent of U.S. electricity through renewable sources. They also demanded the full decarbonization and repair of transportation infrastructure, as well as a "massive investment" in technology that can remove greenhouse gas from the air.
Not once did they mention a carbon tax: a market-based solution that had once been the gold-standard policy for an earlier generation of climate leaders like Al Gore. The era of proud climate kludging has begun.