Search results for " Waste Management"
showing 10 items of 53 documents
Greenhouse gases from wastewater treatment — A review of modelling tools
2016
Nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide and methane are greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted from wastewater treatment that contribute to its carbon footprint. As a result of the increasing awareness of GHG emissions from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), new modelling, design, and operational tools have been developed to address and reduce GHG emissions at the plant-wide scale and beyond. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art and the recently developed tools used to understand and manage GHG emissions from WWTPs, and discusses open problems and research gaps. The literature review reveals that knowledge on the processes related to N2O formation, especially due to autotrophic biomass, is still incompl…
Estimation of biogas produced by the landfill of Palermo, applying a Gaussian model
2008
Abstract In this work, a procedure is suggested to assess the rate of biogas emitted by the Bellolampo landfill (Palermo, Italy), starting from the data acquired by two of the stations for monitoring meteorological parameters and polluting gases. The data used refer to the period November 2005–July 2006. The methane concentration, measured in the CEP suburb of Palermo, has been analysed together with the meteorological data collected by the station situated inside the landfill area. In the present study, the methane has been chosen as a tracer of the atmospheric pollutants produced by the dump. The data used for assessing the biogas emission refer to night time periods characterized by weak…
THE ROLE OF ACCOUNTABILITY WITHIN A ZERO WASTE STRATEGY: EVIDENCES FROM A SICILIAN SMALL MUNICIPALITY
2017
Building a sustainable city model comprising an integrated waste management system has become an indispensable choice, also in the light of increasingly stringent regulatory constraints. The core point of the paper is the implementation of a zero waste strategy in a small municipality in Sicily. Given that only the unceasing participation of citizens may ensure the persistence over time of such a policy, accountability process works letting citizens approach directly the end-results of their ongoing good practices. By building up a SD model framed by a DPM chart, it is possible to figure out how disclosure of public saving resulting from the decreasing amount of waste piled up in the landfi…
The Sustainable Energy Action Plan. A Sicilian case study
2012
The European Union, to reach the objective of the emission reduction, has introduced several projects, including the “Convenant of Mayors”, vo-luntary action aimed to involve the cities of the European Community in the process towards environmental and enrgetic sustainability. Over 2100 muni-cipalities in Europe have joined or are in the process of ratification, but for the 954 italians signatories, only four have drawn up the required tools. The case study "Lampedusa" (presented by the writer as a master's thesis CasaClima - speaker arch. Fattor S., Co-prof. Trombino) comes from the de-sire to measure, in a Sicilian reality, multidisci-disciplinary approaches to de-fine strategic planning …
Coffee biowaste valorization within circular economy: an evaluation method of spent coffee grounds potentials for mortar production
2021
Abstract Purpose Spent coffee grounds (SCG) are biowastes extensively generated within the coffee supply chain. Nowadays, their disposal represents an increasing environmental concern due to its toxicity and organic nature. With the estimated increase of coffee production and consumption in the upcoming years, there is an imperative need to find a proper reverse option, along with a novel industrial application, which allows for the valorization of this coffee by-product within a circular economy perspective. This study aims at investigating a potential reuse of spent coffee grounds to produce novel construction materials to be used for sustainable buildings. Methods After having illustrate…
Rainfall simulation and Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry for the analysis of soil water erosion in Mediterranean vineyards
2016
[EN] Soil water erosion is a serious problem, especially in agricultural lands.Among these, vineyards deserve attention, because they constitute for the Mediterranean areas a type of land use affected by high soil losses. A significant problem related to the study of soil water erosion in these areas consists in the lack of a standardized procedure of collecting data and reporting results, mainly due to a variability among the measurement methods applied. Given this issue and the seriousness of soil water erosion in Mediterranean vineyards, this works aims to quantify the soil losses caused by simulated rainstorms, and compare them with each other depending on two different methodologies: (…
The immediate effectiveness of barley straw mulch in reducing soil erodibility and surface runoff generation in Mediterranean vineyards
2016
Soil and water loss in agriculture is a major problem throughout the world, and especially in Mediterranean areas. Non-conservation agricultural practices have further aggravated the situation, especially in vineyards, which are affected by one of the highest rates of soil loss among cultivated lands. Therefore, it is necessary to find the right soil practices for more sustainable viticulture. In this regard, straw mulching has proven to be effective in other crop and fire affected soils, but, nonetheless, little research has been carried out in vineyards. This research tests the effect of barley straw mulching on soil erosion and surface runoff on vineyards in Eastern Spain where the soil …
Sequential batch membrane bio-reactor for wastewater treatment: The effect of increased salinity
2016
In this work, a sequential batch membrane bioreactor pilot plant is investigated to analyze the effect of a gradual increase in salinity on carbon and nutrient removal, membrane fouling and biomass kinetic parameters. The salinity was increased by 2 g NaCl L-1 per week up to 10 g NaCl L-1. The total COD removal efficiency was quite high (93%) throughout the experiment. A gradual biomass acclimation to the salinity level was observed during the experiment, highlighting the good recovery capabilities of the system. Nitrification was also influenced by the increase in salinity, with a slight decrease in nitrification efficiency (the lowest value was obtained at 10 g NaCl L-1 due to lower nitri…
Effect of C/N shock variation on the performances of a moving bed membrane bioreactor.
2015
Abstract The effect of a sharp variation of C/N ratio in a moving bed membrane bioreactor (MB-MBR) pilot plant treating high strength wastewater has been investigated. The experimental campaign was divided into two periods, each characterized by a different C/N ratio (namely, 2.5 and 15, Period 1 and Period 2, respectively). The MB-MBR system was analyzed in terms of organic carbon removal, nitrification efficiency, biokinetic activity and fouling behavior. The results showed that the nitrification process was severely affected by lower C/N value and by high concentration of ammonia. It was noticed an extensive stress effect on the autotrophic bacteria. Furthermore, it was observed an incre…
Greenhouse gas emissions from integrated solid waste management: a new mathematical model
2016
Municipal solid waste management significantly contributes to the emission in the atmosphere of greenhouse gases (e.g. CO2, CH4, N2O) and therefore the management process from collection to treatment and disposal has to be optimized in order to reduce these emissions. Many literature models developed for the evaluation of greenhouses gases emissions from the waste management system are based on the analysis of the life cycle. These models are not optimized for evaluation of emissions. The aim of this study is to overcome these limitations by proposing a mathematical model to estimate greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the integrated waste management. The model is aimed to be a verifica…