Suchergebnisse

A compliant tool (CalcPEFDairy) to determine the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) of Dairy products has been developed following the Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR) v.6.3 guidance and the 2018 approved PEFCR for Dairy products. CalcPEFDairy is a new tool that simplifies and reduces the work for LCA practitioners when implementing the PEFCR for Dairy products. On contrary to traditional LCA software, CalcPEFDairy includes all the emission models needed to calculate farm and crop cultivation direct emissions and it also implements the specific calculation formulas stated in the PEFCR such as the Circular Footprint and Data Quality Requirement formulas. Moreover, the PEF compliant datasets provided by the Life Cycle Data Network are incorporated in the tool as source of secondary data. To demonstrate the accuracy of the tool a traditional dairy farm in Catalonia (Northwest of Spain) was assessed and the results compared with the European representative PEF compliant datasets for the production of raw milk, cheese and yoghurt. In addition to the environmental profile, CalcPEFDairy has determined the case study's environmental single score (ESS) for the production of raw milk (1.0 × 10−4) cheese (9.7 × 10−6) and yoghurt (1.4 × 10−5); these ESS results are within the range of the ESS obtained from the analysed EF-datasets. The data sets' average ESS for raw milk is 9.9 × 10−5 ± 1.1 × 10−5, while for cheese and yoghurt are 1.5 × 10−5 ± 3.1 × 10−6 and 1.9 × 10−5 ± 3.4 × 10−6 respectively. A 78% of the raw milk production ESS is attributed to the dairy farm activities while, the raw milk production stage affects in a 87.4% and 80.1% to the ESS for cheese and yoghurt respectively. ; The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 712949 (TECNIOspring PLUS) and from the Agency for Business Competitiveness of the Government of Catalonia. Also, this work was ...

In the present work, a complete study of the sewage sludge (SS) biodrying technology was conducted at benchscale, aiming at assessing its performance and providing a valuable insight into the different gaseous emission patterns found for greenhouse gases (GHG) and odorant pollutants. As process key parameters, temperature, specific airflow, dynamic respiration index, final moisture content and Lower Calorific Value (LCV) were evaluated. At the end of the biodrying, a product with a 35.9% moisture content and a LCV of 7.1 MJ·kg−1product was obtained. GHGs emission factor was 28.22 kgCO2eq per Mg of initial mass of dry matter in the SS (DM0-SS). During the biodrying process, maximum odour concentration measured was 3043 ou·m−3 and the estimated odour emission factor of the biological treatment was 3.10E+07 ou per Mg DM0-SS. Finally, VOCs were completely identified and quantified. The most abundant VOCs found in the biodrying gaseous emissions were terpenes, sulphur-compounds and ketones. ; This study was carried out within the framework of the "SMART-Plant" Innovation Action which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 690323.

The capability of Anaerobic Digestion (AD) in minimising waste and retaining the value of materials and energy within the biological and technical cycles in the Dairy Industry (DI) makes AD a critical instrument of transition to circular economy. The aim of this paper is to propose an approach for measuring the environmental performance of the anaerobic treatment of dairy processing effluents based on the circular economy principles. The potential of AD to close the water, energy and nutrient circular loops is investigated together with the relevant environmental costs and benefits at different levels of the dairy supply chain. The developed methodology was based on Material Flow Analysis (MFA) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) applied at three different system levels: the AD plant, the dairy processing facility, the entire dairy supply chain. The approach is demonstrated in a dairy facility coupled with a full-scale AD unit. The results show that the excess electricity (426 MWh/annum) and heat (1236 MWh/annum) produced from the AD plant cause significant reduction of the overall environmental impact of the processing facility. The recovered energy from AD provides 20% of the energy requirements of the factory reducing the total carbon footprint emissions by 13% compared to the baseline scenario. ; The authors would like to acknowledge the Royal Society for the funding of the current research: Ad-Bio, Advanced Fellowship-2015/R2. Joan Colon has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 712949 (TECNIOspring PLUS) and from the Agency for Business Competitiveness of the Government of Catalonia. Daniel Egas wants to thank the University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia for the award of the PhD fellowship No 016_MOB18 and for the award of an Erasmus Traineeship PhD with an EU Erasmus Grant (2017-18).

This study assesses the technological, environmental and economic feasibility of biodrying to valorise cellulosic sludge as a renewable energy source. Specifically, three different aeration strategies were compared in terms of biodrying performance, energetic consumption, gaseous emissions, quality of end-products and techno-economic analysis. These strategies were based on different combinations of convective drying with biogenic heat produced. Two innovative biodrying performance indicators (Energetic Biodrying Index and Biodrying Performance Index) were proposed to better assess the initial and operational conditions that favour the maximum energy process efficiency and the highest end-product quality. The end-products obtained consistently presented moisture contents below 40% and lower heating values above 9.4 MJ·kg-1. However, the best values achieved were 32.6% and 10.4 MJ·kg-1 for moisture content and lower heating value, respectively. Low N2O and CH4 emissions confirmed the effective aeration of all three strategies carried out, while NH4 and tVOCs were related either to temperature or biological phenomena. A techno-economic analysis proved the economic viability and attractiveness of the biodrying technology for cellulosic sludge in all the strategies applied. ; This study was carried out within the framework of the 'SMARTPlant' Innovation Action, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 690323. Joan Colón has received funding from the 2018 call for Ramón y Cajal Grants from the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (reference RYC2018-026231-I) co-financed by the State Research Agency and the European Social Fund. Authors thank CirTec B.V. for providing CS samples for the study and Aigües de Manresa S.A for their availability and orientation. Authors would like also thank Nicola Vitale (Univ. of Catania, Italy) for his support developing the economic model.

The Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW), or biowaste, can be valorized using different treatment technologies, such as anaerobic digestion and composting or the combination of them. The use of the end products (biogas and/or compost) generates benefits over the alternative of sending waste to landfill. The European Union regulations (i.e. Landfill Directive) encourage the diversion of untreated biodegradable waste from landfilling. However, OFMSW treatment installations also produce environmental impacts that must be assessed. This paper presents different future scenarios at regional scale proposed to accomplish the Landfill Directive and their environmental assessment in terms of environmental impact categories. The geographical area under study is Catalonia (Spain). Field data obtained in previous studies undertaken in the same geographical area are used to determine the environmental burdens of the present situation in order to compare them with different future scenarios. A combined scenario to treat 921 Gg of OFMSW source selected including the increase of the quantity of biowaste treated by anaerobic digestion (61.2% of the total biowaste), the modification of composting plants to ensure the treatment of all the gaseous emissions (25.3% and 8.1% of the total biowaste treated in in-vessel composting plants and in enclosed windrows composting plants respectively) and the incorporation of home composting as a waste treatment alternative (5.4% of total biowaste) results in the lowest impact scenario considered in the present study. Energy recovery through anaerobic digestion and benefits of gaseous emissions reduction are the key factors in the impact reduction of biowaste treatment.

This study has been funded by the RESMINLOD project, co-funded by the Spanish Ministry of Environment (MMA) and the Water Agency of the Catalonia Government (ACA). ; Background, aim, and scope. Mining activities disturb land and reduce its capacity to support a complete functional ecosystem. Reclamation activities in this case are not easy due to the large amount of soil required. This is why mining debris are usually used as surrogate of soil, despite their unsuitable physicochemical properties. However, these properties can be improved with the amendment using an organic source, usually sewage sludge. Nevertheless, the use of sludge might lead to impacts on soil and water ecosystems because of its physicochemical properties and pollutant content. The aim of this study is to assess the suitability of the use of mining debris amended with sewage sludge as practice for the reclamation of land degraded by limestone-quarrying activities. Materials and methods.Two different types of mining debris from the same limestone quarry and six different types of composted or thermally dried sewage sludge were studied. A laboratory assessment was carried out by means of standardized bioassays of sludges, together with a field assessment carried out in lysimeters filled with debris-sludge mixtures. The field assessment was carried out using both the soil-waste mixtures, amended with dosages similar to those used for restoration purposes and their corresponding leachates. The variation of physicochemical properties and the outcomes of different bioassays (soil microorganisms biomass and respiration, enzymatic activities, plant emergence and growth, collembolan survival and reproduction, and the Microtox assay) were used as indicators of fertilizing or ecotoxicological effects. Results.The mining debris used in our study showed a poor capacity for biological recovery, as shown by the lower biological outcomes measured in control lysimeters compared to lysimeters amended with sludge. The addition of sludge improved debris just before the sludge application in terms of its physicochemical and biological properties (microorganism's biomass, respiration and enzymatic activities) which, in some cases, persisted after a year. Conversely, in some sludges, an inhibition in soil collembolans was observed just before the amendment, but any inhibitory effect disappeared after a year. Concerning the leachates obtained from field lysimeters after a week and a year, no inhibitory effects were detectable for aquatic bacteria. Discussion. The effects observed on some of the measured biological endpoints, both in laboratory and field assays, were mainly mediated by physicochemical parameters related to a low stability of organic matter, but in the opposite sense depending on the organism considered. Microbial parameters were enhanced when the organic matter added had a low stability (high content in labile organic matter) but, on the other hand, collembolan performance was negatively affected. The lack of toxicity of leachates indicates a low risk for groundwaters of this reclamation practice. Conclusions.The results of this study support the use of mining debris mixed with sludge for land reclamation of degraded land by quarrying. The addition of sludge allowed a quick plant cover re-establishment and provided a suitable habitat for soil biota because no long-term ecotoxicological risks were observed neither for soils nor groundwaters. The results also indicate that the environmental risk of sludges might be reduced using sludges with a high content in stable organic matter. Recommendations and perspectives.The use of mining debris mixed with sewage sludges for mining reclamation purposes is suitable since long-term ecotoxicological risks were not observed. In addition, the results support the suitability of bioassays for the prediction of the success or risk of specific land reclamation practices in order to avoid unsuccessful attempts.

This paper proposes an overarching review of national municipal waste management systems and waste- to-energy as an important part of it in the context of circular economy in the selected countries in Europe. The growth of population and rising standards of living means that the consumption of goods and energy is increasing. On the one hand, consumption leads to an increase in the generation of waste. On the other hand, the correlation between increased wealth and increased energy consumption is very strong as well. Given that the average heating value of municipal solid waste (MSW) is approximately 10 MJ/kg, it seems logical to use waste as a source of energy. Traditionally, waste-to-energy (WtE) has been associated with incineration. Yet, the term is much broader, embracing various waste treatment processes generating energy (for instance, in the form of electricity and/or heat or producing a waste- derived fuel). Turning waste into energy can be one key to a circular economy enabling the value of products, materials, and resources to be maintained on the market for as long as possible, minimising waste and resource use. As the circular economy is at the top of the EU agenda, all Member States of the EU (including the EEA countries) should move away from the old-fashioned disposal of waste to a more intelligent waste treatment encompassing the circular economy approach in their waste policies. Therefore, the article examines how these EU policies are implemented in practice. Given that WtE traditionally is attached to the MSW management and organisation, the focus of this article is twofold. Firstly, it aims to identify the different practices of municipal waste management employed in selected countries and their approaches in embracing the circular economy and, secondly, the extent to which WtE technologies play any role in this context. The following countries, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, and the UK were chosen to depict a broad European context.