Author: claimsbot

1. A medical assembly comprising:
a stent;
a catheter assembly comprising a catheter body and a balloon having the stent positioned on the balloon, the balloon having a deflated configuration and capable of being enlarged to an expanded configuration; and
a releasable connection between the stent and the catheter body, wherein the releasable connection retains the stent on the catheter assembly when the balloon is in the deflated configuration, wherein the releasable connection is formed in a region of the catheter body axially distal or proximal to the balloon, and the releasable connection releases the stent from the catheter body in response to enlargement of the balloon or when the balloon has been enlarged to an expanded configuration, wherein the releasable connection is located between an inner surface of the stent and an outer surface of the catheter body.
2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the stent is a biodegradable stent.
3. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the releasable connection releases off of the stent.
4. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the releasable connection releases off of the catheter.
5. The assembly of claim 1, further comprising an intermediary material between the releasable connection and the stent, the releasable connection and the catheter body, or the combination thereof.
6. The assembly of claim 5, wherein the intermediary material is a coating.
7. The assembly of claim 5, wherein the releasable connection releases off of the intermediary material.
8. A method for constructing a medical assembly comprising:
placing a stent over a balloon of a catheter assembly;
forming a releasable connection between the stent and the catheter assembly such that in response to the enlargement of the balloon or when the balloon has been enlarged to an expanded configuration, the stent is detached from the catheter assembly,
wherein the forming a releasable connection comprises:
depositing an adhesive material on an outer surface of the catheter assembly to form the releasable connection, the adhesive material being of the type that allows for the detachment of the stent from the catheter assembly in response to the enlargement of the balloon or when the balloon has been enlarged to an expanded configuration; and
applying pressure to the stent to allow the adhesive material to contact the stent and catheter assembly to form the releasable connection;
applying heat to assist the pressure to form the releasable connection formed by the adhesive material.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the balloon is in a collapsed configuration when the releasable connection is formed between the stent and the catheter assembly.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein the stent is a biodegradable stent.
11. The method of claim 8, wherein the releasable connection disengages from the stent.
12. The method of claim 8, wherein the releasable connection disengages from the balloon.
13. The method of claim 8, wherein the releasable connection is configured to break in parts to disengage the stent from the balloon.
14. The method of claim 8, wherein the adhesive material secures the inner surface of the stent to the outer surface of the catheter.
15. The method of claim 8, wherein the stent is a biodegradable stent and the method of forming the releasable connection comprises
applying a solvent to an inner surface of the biodegradable stent andor an outer surface of the balloon; followed by
crimping the biodegradable stent to the balloon; followed by
removing the solvent.
16. The method of claim 8, wherein the stent is a biodegradable stent and the method of forming the releasable connection comprises
applying a solvent to an inner surface of the biodegradable stent andor an outer surface of the catheter assembly; prior to
placing the biodegradable stent over the balloon wherein the diameter of the stent allows for a fitted mate between the catheter assembly and the stent such that adjusting the diameter of the stent once positioned over the balloon is not required; followed by
removing the solvent.
17. The method of claim 8, wherein the stent includes a material on an inner surface thereof andor the catheter assembly includes a material on the outer surface thereof, and the method of forming the releasable connection comprises
applying a solvent to the material on the stent andor the material on the catheter assembly; followed by
crimping the stent on the catheter assembly; followed by
removing the solvent.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the releasable connection disengages from the material on the stent, the material on the balloon, the material on the catheter assembly in a region outside of the balloon, or a combination thereof.
19. The method of claim 8, wherein the stent includes a material on an inner surface thereof andor the catheter assembly includes a material on the outer surface thereof, and the method of forming the releasable connection comprises
applying a solvent to the material on the stent andor the material on the catheter assembly; prior to
placing the stent over the balloon wherein the diameter of the stent allows for a fitted mate between the catheter assembly and the stent such that adjusting the diameter of the stent once positioned over the balloon is not required; followed by
removing the solvent.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein the releasable connection disengages from the material on the stent, the material on the balloon, the material on the catheter assembly in a region outside of the balloon, or a combination thereof.
21. The method of claim 8, wherein the forming the releasable connection comprises:
injecting a melted material between the catheter assembly and the stent;
applying a melted material between the catheter assembly and the stent followed by crimping the stent on the catheter assembly;
applying a melted material on an inner surface of the stent andor on an outer surface of the catheter assembly prior to placing the stent over the balloon; or
applying a melted material on an inner surface of the stent andor on an outer surface of the catheter assembly prior to crimping the stent on the catheter assembly.
22. The method of claim 8, wherein the forming the releasable connection comprises:
applying ultrasonic energy to the stent andor the catheter assembly to connect the stent to the catheter assembly;
applying vibration to the stent andor the catheter assembly to connect the stent to the catheter assembly;
spinning the stent around the balloon, spinning the balloon within the stent, or spinning both the balloon and the stent to connect the stent to the catheter assembly; or
applying an electromagnetic energy to the stent andor the catheter assembly to connect the stent to the catheter assembly.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein the stent is a biodegradable stent.
24. The method of claim 22, wherein the stent includes a material deposited on an inner surface of the stent andor the catheter assembly includes a material deposited on the outer surface of the catheter assembly for allowing the stent to be connected to the catheter assembly or for enhancing or facilitating the connection of the stent to the balloon.
25. The method of claim 22, wherein the electromagnetic energy is radio frequency energy, microwave energy, or infrared energy.
26. The method of claim 8, wherein the stent is a biodegradable stent and the method of connecting the stent to the catheter assembly includes laser welding the stent to the catheter assembly.
27. The method of claim 8, wherein forming the releasable connection comprises laser welding a material between the stent and the catheter assembly so as to cause the connection of the stent to the catheter assembly.
28. A method for constructing a medical assembly comprising:
placing a stent over a balloon of a catheter assembly; and
forming a releasable connection between the stent and the catheter assembly by applying heat using a heat source positioned between a surface of the stent and a surface of the catheter assembly such that in response to the enlargement of the balloon or when the balloon has been enlarged to an expanded configuration, the stent is detached from the catheter assembly,
wherein the stent is a biodegradable stent and the method of forming the releasable connection comprises
applying the heat to weld an inner surface of the biodegradable stent to an outer surface of the catheter assembly to form the connection between the stent and the catheter assembly.
29. The method of claim 28 additionally including applying inward radial pressure to the stent that reduces the diameter of the stent during the application of the heat andor subsequent to the application of heat.
30. The method of claim 28, wherein the method of forming a releasable connection additionally comprises crimping the stent on the catheter assembly and wherein heat is applied
prior to crimping of the stent on the catheter assembly;
during the crimping of the stent on the catheter assembly; andor
subsequent to crimping of the stent on the catheter assembly.
31. The method of claim 28, wherein the heat is applied by a heating tool, or by an electric current.
32. A method for constructing a medical assembly comprising:
placing a stent over a balloon of a catheter assembly; and
forming a releasable connection between the stent and the catheter assembly such that in response to the enlargement of the balloon or when the balloon has been enlarged to an expanded configuration, the stent is detached from the catheter assembly,
wherein the forming the releasable connection comprises:
placing a heating element between the stent and the catheter assembly; and
applying heat to weld the stent to the catheter assembly.
33. The method of claim 32, wherein the stent is a biodegradable stent made completely or in-part from a polymeric material.
34. The method of claim 32, wherein the stent includes a material deposited on an inner surface thereof andor the catheter assembly includes a material deposited on an outer surface thereof, such that application of heat to the material on the stent andor the material on the catheter assembly allows for connection of the stent to the catheter assembly.
35. The method of claim 34, wherein the material on the stent andor the catheter assembly has a lower melting temperature than the stent and the catheter assembly.
36. The method of claim 34, wherein the material on the stent andor the catheter assembly has a higher melting temperature than the stent and the assembly.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A process for pyrolyzing a wide boiling range vaporizable hydrocarbon feedstock or mixtures of hydrocarbon feedstocks having a wide boiling range, comprising a variety of hydrocarbons of differing carbonhydrogen ratios andor molecular weights in a pyrolysis furnace having a convection section, least two sets of radiant pyrolysis coils, and a vapor distribution header to produce olefins and other pyrolysis products, comprising:
a. heating and partially vaporizing a feedstock, and feeding the partially vaporized feedstock to a vaporliquid separator device to produce fractions comprising separate vapor and liquid phases;
b. feeding the vapor phase fraction to the vapor distribution header and then to a first set of radiant pyrolysis coils of a pyrolysis furnace operated at a first set of cracking conditions where the hydrocarbons are cracked to produce olefins; and
c. heating and fully vaporizing the liquid phase fraction from the vaporliquid separator, and feeding the vapor phase thus created to the vapor distribution header and then to a second set of radiant coils of the pyrolysis furnace operated at a second set of cracking conditions where the hydrocarbons are cracked to produce olefins.
2. The process of claim 1 wherein said cracking conditions in the particular set of radiant pyrolysis coils includes feed rate, residence time, temperature history, heat input and dilution steam to feed ratio.
3. The process of claim 1 wherein the hydrocarbon feedstock is selected from the group of fully vaporizable feedstocks consisting of (i) natural gas liquids (NGLs), (ii) condensate, (iii) mixtures of gas oil, naphtha andor gasoline, (iv) synthetic hydrocarbons, and (v) mixtures of vacuum gas oil with naphtha added to prevent solidification of paraffin wax contained in the feedstock in un-heated storage and transportation facilities.
4. The process of claim 3 wherein the hydrocarbon feedstock is a condensate comprising a wide-boiling point range feed, with a density from 0.71 to 0.80 gcm3, a hydrogen content from 13.0% to 15%, an initial boiling point from ambient temperature to a final boiling point of about 1000\xb0 F. (538\xb0 C.
5. The process of claim 3 wherein the hydrocarbon feedstock comprises mixtures of vacuum gas oil with naphtha added to prevent solidification of paraffin wax contained in the feedstock in un-heated storage and transportation facilities.
6. The process of claim 1 wherein a mixture of hydrocarbon feedstocks are used.
7. The process of claim 1 wherein a diluent gas or liquid or mixtures thereof are added to the hydrocarbon feedstock prior to entering the radiant pyrolysis coils.
8. The process of claim 7 wherein said diluent gas is selected from the group consisting of steam, methane, ethane, nitrogen, hydrogen, natural gas and refinery off-gas and said diluent liquid is water.
9. The process of claim 1 wherein the vaporliquid separator is selected from the group consisting of a flash vessel, a vertical drum, a horizontal drum, a fractionation column, a centrifugal separator and a cyclone.
10. The process of claim 9 wherein the vaporliquid separator is a flash vessel.
11. The process of claim 1 wherein the hydrogen-to-carbon atomic ratio of the C5+ portion of the pyrolysis products from each set of radiant coils is used to control the cracking severity in those coils.
12. The process of claim 11 wherein the hydrogen-to-carbon atomic ratio is determined by analyzing the ultra-violet absorbance of the C5+ portion of the pyrolysis products and by correlating the values of the resulting absorbance to the hydrogen-to-carbon atomic ratio of C5+ portion of the pyrolysis products from each set of radiant pyrolysis coils.
13. The process of claim 1 wherein said feedstock is a fully vaporizable wide boiling range feedstock, and wherein two vaporliquid separators are used in combination with the convection section of the furnace to form three separate vapor feedstocks for three sets of radiant pyrolysis coils.
14. The process of claim 1 wherein said feedstock is a fully vaporizable wide boiling range feedstock, and wherein three vaporliquid separators are used in combination with the convection section of the furnace to form four separate vapor feedstocks for four sets of radiant pyrolysis coils.
15. The process of claim 1 wherein said pyrolysis furnace has a single radiant cell.
16. The process of claim 1 wherein said pyrolysis furnace has two radiant cells.
17. A process for pyrolyzing a wide boiling range hydrocarbon feedstock or mixtures of hydrocarbon feedstocks having a wide boiling range, comprising a variety of hydrocarbons of differing carbonhydrogen ratios andor molecular weights and including undesirable high boiling point andor non-vaporizable components in an pyrolysis furnace having a convection section, least two sets of radiant pyrolysis coils, and a vapor distribution header in order to produce olefins and other pyrolysis products, comprising:
a. heating and partially vaporizing a feedstock, and feeding the partially vaporized feedstock to a vaporliquid separator device to produce fractions comprising separate vapor and liquid phases;
b. feeding the vapor phase to the vapor distribution header and then to a first set of radiant pyrolysis coils of a pyrolysis furnace operated at a first set of cracking conditions where the hydrocarbons are cracked to produce olefins;
c. heating the liquid phase from the first vaporliquid separator to a temperature sufficient to vaporize a portion of the hydrocarbons, feeding the heated two phase mixture to a second vaporliquid separator and separating the vapor phase fraction from the liquid phase fraction;
d. feeding the vapor phase from the second vaporliquid separator to the vapor distribution header and then to a second set of radiant pyrolysis coils of the olefins pyrolysis furnace operated at a second set of cracking conditions where the hydrocarbons are cracked to produce olefins;
e. removing the liquid phase fraction which contains undesirable andor non-vaporizable components from the second vaporliquid separator.
18. The process of claim 17 wherein said cracking conditions in the particular set of radiant pyrolysis coils includes feed rate, residence time, temperature history, heat input and dilution steam to feed ratio.
19. The process of claim 18 wherein the liquid phase from step e is removed and used as fuel oil, feedstock to a gasifier or feedstock to a coker.
20. The process of claim 18 wherein the liquid phase from step e is subjected to thermal cracking to produce additional hydrocarbon components having boiling points below 1000\xb0 F. (538\xb0 C.), which are subsequently vaporized and included in the feed to the second set of radiant pyrolysis coils, and the remaining liquid portion from the thermal cracking is removed and used as fuel oil, feedstock to a gasifier or feedstock to a coker.
21. The process of claim 17 wherein three vaporliquid separators are used in combination with the convection section of the furnace to form three separate vapor feedstocks for three sets of radiant pyrolysis coils.
22. The process of claim 17 wherein the vaporliquid separator is selected from the group consisting of a flash vessel, a vertical drum, a horizontal drum, a fractionation column, a centrifugal separator and a cyclone.
23. The process of claim 17 wherein the hydrogen-to-carbon atomic ratio of the C5+ portion of the pyrolysis products from each set of radiant coils is used to control the cracking severity in those coils.
24. The process of claim 23 wherein the hydrogen-to-carbon atomic ratio is determined by analyzing the ultra-violet absorbance of the C5+ portion of the pyrolysis products and by correlating the values of the resulting absorbance to the hydrogen-to-carbon atomic ratio of C5+ portion of the pyrolysis products from each set of radiant pyrolysis coils.
25. The process of claim 17 wherein said feedstock is selected from the group consisting of (i) short residue, (ii) long residue, (iii) desalted crude oil, (iv) oils derived from coal, shale oil and tar sands, (v) heavy component products from synthetic hydrocarbon processes selected from SMDS, gas to liquids, heavy paraffin synthesis and Fischer-Tropsch and (vi) heavy ends from hydrocrackate.
26. The process of claim 17 wherein said feedstock is short residue or vacuum tower bottom.
27. The process of claim 17 wherein said pyrolysis furnace has a single radiant cell.
28. The process of claim 17 wherein said pyrolysis furnace has two radiant cells.

1. A method for managing a chaotic event,
the method comprising:
responsive to receiving an indication of the chaotic event, determining a management location that has an active data communication for managing the chaotic event;
wherein the chaotic event is an event that causes an interruption in routines normally performed by people in everyday activities because of damage inflicted to individuals and infrastructure;
predicting a timing and severity of the chaotic event based on a stored set of catastrophe models;
wherein the catastrophe models define the parameters of the particular chaotic event;
identifying resources necessary for managing the chaotic event based on the predicted timing and severity of the chaotic event;
collecting and organizing data by a data organization system through a semantic search over a plurality of networks to determine availability of a number of necessary resources to form available resources;
performing a number of optimization routines that are stored in a memory to calculate an ad hoc optimal solution from the available resources based on requirements and constraints to form optimized resources, wherein the ad hoc optimal solution maximizes an objective function:
verifying the availability of the optimized resources; and
managing the chaotic event from the management location using the optimized resources.
2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifying, determining, optimizing, and verifying steps are performed recursively to continuously adapt the available resources based on conditions of the chaotic event.
3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising performing the identifying resources step based on requirements and constraints for services, a potential skill pool, and enabling resources.
4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:
detecting the chaotic event including timing and severity of the chaotic event.
5. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein the detecting step further comprises:
crawling communications networks by performing a semantic search to determine the chaotic event has occurred.
6. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein the detecting step is performed on information from sensors, commercial services, and manual input.
7. The computer implemented method of claim 2, transferring control to another management location based on the conditions.
8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:
receiving user input for managing the chaotic event; and
communicating instructions for managing the chaotic event.
9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifying step is based on a database specifying the necessary skills and the necessary resources for a type of the chaotic event.
10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining routes for the necessary resources to determine the available resources.
11. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the identifying resources step further comprises:
crawling a network to find the available resources.
12. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:
responsive to determining the available resources are unavailable, reoptimizing the available resources.
13. A data processing system comprising:
a bus system;
a communications system connected to the bus system;
a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes a set of instructions; and
a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to determine a management location that has an active data communication for managing a chaotic event in response to receiving an indication of the chaotic event, predict a timing and severity of the chaotic event based on a stored set of catastrophe models, identify resources necessary for managing the chaotic event to indicate necessary resources based on the predicted timing and severity of the chaotic event, collect and organize data by a data organization system through a semantic search over a plurality of networks to determine availability of a number of necessary resources to form available resources, perform a number of optimization routines to calculate an ad hoc optimal solution from the available resources based on requirements and constraints to form optimized resources, wherein the ad hoc optimal solution maximizes an objective function, verify the availability of the optimized resources, and manage the chaotic event from the management location using the available resources.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the data processing system is operably connected to a network and wherein a secondary data processing system may be activated to execute the set of instructions in a different management location for transferring control of chaotic event management.
15. The system of claim 13, wherein the set of instructions detect the chaotic event, wherein the data processing system is operably connected to a plurality of databases for accessing information required to manage the chaotic event.
16. A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium including computer usable program code for managing a chaotic event, the computer program product comprising:
computer usable program code, responsive to receiving an indication of the chaotic event, for determining a management location that has an active data communication for managing the chaotic event;
computer usable program code for predicting a timing and severity of the chaotic event based on a stored set of catastrophe models;
computer usable program code for identifying necessary resources for managing the chaotic event based on the predicted timing and severity of the chaotic event;
computer usable program code for collecting and organizing data by a data organization system through a semantic search over a plurality of networks to determine the availability of a number of necessary resources to form available resources;
computer usable program code for performing a number of optimization routines to calculate an ad hoc optimal solution from the available resources based on requirements and constraints to form optimized resources, wherein the ad hoc optimal solution maximizes an objective function;
computer usable program code for verifying the availability of the optimized resources; and
computer usable program code for managing the chaotic event from the management location using the optimized resources.
17. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:
computer usable program code for detecting the chaotic event including timing and severity of the chaotic event; and
computer usable program code for communicating instructions for managing the chaotic event.
18. A chaotic event management system comprising:
a processor for processing an operating system and a chaotic event management application;
a computer readable storage medium operably connected to the processor for storing the operating system and information from the chaotic event management application wherein the operating system and the chaotic event management application may be loaded into a main memory for execution by the processor wherein the chaotic event management application further comprises:
a user interface for interacting with at least one user for managing the chaotic event;
an event detection module for detecting the chaotic event;
a management location module for selecting a management location that has an active data communication for managing the chaotic event;
a timing and severity prediction module for predicting a timing and severity of the chaotic event based on a stored set of catastrophe models;
an events requirements module for identifying necessary resources for managing the chaotic event based on the predicted timing and severity of the chaotic event;
a data organization module for collecting and organizing data through a semantic search over a plurality of networks to determine availability of a number of necessary resources to form available resources;
an optimization module for performing a number of stored optimization routines to calculate an ad hoc optimal solution from the available resources based on requirements and constraints to form optimized resources, wherein the ad hoc optimal solution maximizes an objective function;
an availability verification module for verifying the availability of the optimized resources to form available optimized resources;
an event management module for managing the chaotic event from the management location using the available optimized resources; and

a plurality of databases operably connected to the processor by a network for accessing and storing information for the chaotic event management application.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A gas compression and expansion system comprising:
a compression system fluidly coupled to a storage compartment and configured to compress a first quantity of gas for storage in the storage compartment, the compression system comprising a compression path configured to convey the first quantity of gas therethrough;
an expansion system fluidly coupled to the storage compartment and configured to expand a second quantity of gas from the storage compartment, the expansion system comprising an expansion path configured to convey the second quantity of gas therethrough;
a first path fluidly coupled to the compression path and configured to convey the first quantity of gas to the storage compartment;
a second path fluidly coupled to the expansion path and configured to convey the second quantity of gas from the storage compartment to the expansion system; and
a carbon dioxide separation unit fluidly coupled to one of the first path, the second path, the compression path, and the expansion path, wherein the carbon dioxide separation unit is configured to remove a quantity of carbon dioxide from one of the first quantity of gas and the second quantity of gas.
2. The gas compression and expansion system of claim 1 wherein the carbon dioxide separation unit comprises one of a solvent-based separation unit and a membrane-based separation unit.
3. The gas compression and expansion system of claim 1 wherein the compression system is configured to increase a pressure of the first quantity of gas from a first pressure to a second pressure, the compression system comprising a plurality of compressor units fluidly coupled to the compression path; and
wherein each compressor unit is configured to increase the pressure of the first quantity of gas by a respective pressure less than a difference between the first and second pressures.
4. The gas compression and expansion system of claim 1 wherein the expansion system is configured to decrease a pressure of the second quantity of gas from a third pressure to a fourth pressure, the expansion system comprising a plurality of expander units fluidly coupled to the expansion path; and
wherein each expander unit is configured to decrease the pressure of the second quantity of gas by a respective pressure less than a difference between the third and fourth pressures.
5. The gas compression and expansion system of claim 1 wherein the first quantity of gas comprises ambient air.
6. The gas compression and expansion system of claim 1 wherein the first quantity of gas comprises flue gas.
7. The gas compression and expansion system of claim 6 further comprising a third path fluidly coupled to the expansion system and to the compression system, the third path configured to convey a quantity of carbon dioxide-enriched gas from the expansion system to the compression system.
8. The gas compression and expansion system of claim 1 wherein the storage compartment comprises a cavern.
9. A method of manufacturing an air compression and expansion system comprising:
configuring a compressor to compress an airstream for storage in a storage volume;
coupling a first airflow path to the compressor and configuring the first airflow path to deliver a compressed airstream to the storage volume;
configuring a turbine to receive a quantity of the compressed airstream and expand the quantity of the compressed airstream;
coupling a second airflow path to the turbine and configuring the second airflow path to deliver the quantity of the compressed airstream to the turbine from the storage volume; and
coupling a carbon dioxide filter along at least one of the first airflow path and the second airflow path and configuring the carbon dioxide filter to filter a quantity of carbon dioxide from the compressed airstream.
10. The method of claim 9 coupling a third airflow path between the compressor and the turbine and configuring the third airflow path to deliver a re-circulated airstream to the compressor.
11. The method of claim 10 further comprising configuring the compressor to compress a carbon dioxide-enriched airstream, the carbon dioxide-enriched airstream comprising a mixture of the recirculated airstream and a flue gas.
12. The method of claim 9 further comprising coupling a third airflow path to the compressor and to one of a power plant and an industrial process to deliver the airstream to the compressor from the one of the power plant and the industrial process.
13. A compressed air energy storage (CAES) system comprising:
a compressor assembly having an inlet and an outlet, the compressor configured to exhaust compressed working fluid at the outlet of the compressor assembly;
a storage volume positioned downstream of the outlet of the compressor and configured to receive and store the compressed working fluid;
a turbine assembly positioned downstream of the storage volume and configured to receive the compressed working fluid from the storage cavern at an inlet of the turbine assembly and exhaust expanded working fluid at an outlet of the turbine assembly; and
a carbon dioxide separation unit positioned downstream of the outlet of the compressor assembly and upstream of the inlet of the turbine assembly, wherein the carbon dioxide separation unit is configured to remove a quantity of carbon dioxide from the compressed working fluid.
14. The CAES system of claim 13 wherein the first quantity of working fluid comprises ambient air; and
wherein the compressor assembly is configured to:
receive the working fluid at the inlet of the compressor assembly, the working fluid having an ambient air carbon dioxide concentration; and
compress the working fluid.
15. The CAES system of claim 14 wherein the ambient air carbon dioxide concentration is approximately 0.04 percent volume.
16. The CAES system of claim 13 wherein the first quantity of working fluid comprises flue gas; and
wherein the compressor assembly is configured to:
receive the working fluid at the inlet of the compressor assembly, the working fluid having an flue gas carbon dioxide concentration; and
compress the working fluid.
17. The CAES system of claim 16 wherein the flue gas carbon dioxide concentration is within a range of approximately four percent volume to fifteen percent volume.
18. The CAES system of claim 16 wherein the compressor assembly is further configured to:
receive a quantity of working fluid at the inlet of the compressor assembly;
receive a quantity of recirculated fluid from the outlet of the turbine assembly, the re-circulated fluid comprising a quantity of the expanded working fluid;
compress a combination of the quantity of working fluid and the quantity of re-circulated fluid into a combined fluid mixture; and
exhaust the combined fluid mixture at the outlet of the compressor assembly, the combined fluid mixture comprising a mixture carbon dioxide concentration greater than the flue gas carbon dioxide concentration.
19. The CAES system of claim 18 wherein the mixture carbon dioxide concentration is approximately eight percent volume.
20. The CAES system of claim 13 wherein the compressed air storage volume comprises a salt cavern.