Among the technologies which allow to reduce greenhouse gas emission, mainly carbon dioxide, special attention deserves the idea of 'zero-emission' technology based on boilers working in oxy-combustion technology. In the paper the results of analyses of the influence of changing two quantities, namely oxygen share in oxidant produced in the air separation unit, and oxygen share in oxidant supplied to the furnace chamber on the selected characteristics of a steam boiler including the degree of exhaust gas recirculation, boiler efficiency and adiabatic flame temperature, was examined. Due to the possibility of the integration of boiler model with carbon dioxide capture, separation and storage installation, the subject of the analysis was also to determine composition of the flue gas at the outlet of a moisture condensation installation. Required calculations were made using a model of a supercritical circulating fluidized bed boiler working in oxy-combustion technology, which was built in a commercial software and in-house codes.

The paper analyzes a new concept of integration of combined cycle with the installation of supplementary firing. The whole system was enclosed by thermodynamic analysis, which consists of a gas-steam unit with triple-pressure heat recovery steam generator. The system uses a determined model of the gas turbine and the assumptions relating to the construction features of steam-water part were made. The proposed conception involves building of supplementary firing installation only on part of the exhaust stream leaving the gas turbine. In the proposed solution superheater was divided into two sections, one of which was located on the exhaust gases leaving the installation of supplementary firing. The paper presents the results of the analyses of which the main aim was to demonstrate the superiority of the new thermodynamic concept of the supplementary firing over the classical one. For this purpose a model of a system was built, in which it was possible to carry out simulations of the gradual transition from a classically understood supplementary firing to the supplementary firing completely modified. For building of a model the GateCycle™ software was used.

In this paper an air separation unit was analyzed. The unit consisted of: an ionic transport membrane contained in a four-end type module, an air compressor, an expander fed by gas that remains after oxygen separation and heat exchangers which heat the air and recirculated flue gas to the membrane operating temperature (850 °C). The air separation unit works in a power plant with electrical power equal to 600 MW. This power plant additionally consists of: an oxy-type pulverized-fuel boiler, a steam turbine unit and a carbon dioxide capture unit. Life steam parameters are 30 MPa/650 °C and reheated steam parameters are 6 MPa/670 °C. The listed units were analyzed. For constant electrical power of the power plant technical parameters of the air separation unit for two oxygen recovery rate (65% and 95%) were determined. One of such parameters is ionic membrane surface area. In this paper the formulated equation is presented. The remaining technical parameters of the air separation unit are, among others: heat exchange surface area, power of the air compressor, power of the expander and auxiliary power. Using the listed quantities, the economic parameters, such as costs of air separation unit and of individual components were determined. These quantities allowed to determine investment costs of construction of the air separation unit. In addition, they were compared with investment costs for the entire oxy-type power plant.

Calretinin (CR), a calcium-binding protein from EF-hand family, is localised in non-pyramidal GABA-ergic interneurons of the hippocampus. CR takes part in maintaining calcium binding homeostasis, which suggests its neuroprotective role. Hippocampal neurons contain membrane transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) which binds to capsaicin (CAP) contained in habanero pepper fruits. Few in vivo studies have revealed the effect of CAP on interneurons containing CR. The aim of the present study was to investigate the CR immunoreac- tivity in interneurons of the hippocampal CA1 field and dentate gyrus (DG) in adult rats after intragastric admin- istration of the habanero pepper fruits. Wistar rats received a peanut oil – control group (C), and oil suspension of habanero pepper fruits at doses of 0.025 g dm/kg b.w. – group I and 0.08 g dm/kg b.w. – group II for 28 days. After euthanasia, the brains were collected and embedded in paraffin blocks using a routine histological tech- nique. Frontal hippocampal sections were immunohistochemically stained for CR by using a peroxidase-antiper- oxidase method. CR immunoreactive (CR-IR) interneurons were morphologically and morphometrically ana- lyzed under a light microscope. The results showed similar shapes and distribution of cells in both areas of the brain in group C and I of animals. However, CR-IR interneurons in the hippocampal CA1 field and in DG were occasionally observed in the group II of rats.

The results of morphometric studies did not reveal statistically significant differences in the surface area and shape index of cells between examined brain regions from groups I and II compared to group C.

Only in group II of rats, an increase in the digital immunostaining intensity of CR-IR interneurons was found in DG. Low number of CR-IR interneurons in the hippocampal CA1 field and in the DG, under the influence of a large dose of habanero pepper fruits containing CAP, may be caused by the activation of TRPV1 receptors and the increase in Ca2+ ions in these cells. This phenomenon may ultimately lead to neuronal death and may disturb neuronal conduction.