Search results for "LCA"

Embedding “roadside equipment” into environmental assessment of transportation system: the case of safety barriers

2015

The work arises from the consideration that the environmental impact of a road cannot be limited to the analysis of its constituent materials, even if correctly analyzed in their life cycle. In fact, a given road not only consists of the pavement and subgrade, but also includes several different components and accessories (e.g. road marking, drainages, safety barriers, etc.) that contribute to set a road infrastructure in operative conditions. As a matter of fact, only limited attention has been paid in the scientific literature to roadside components, unlike pavement and traffic flow. In the present work, the environmental burden of one of these components, i.e. the safety barrier, has bee…

Aeolian Remobilisation of the 2011-Cordón Caulle Tephra-Fallout Deposit: Example of an Important Process in the Life Cycle of Volcanic Ash

2020

Although volcanic eruptions represent short periods in the whole history of a volcano, the large amount of loose pyroclastic material produced, combined with aeolian processes, can lead to continuous, long-lasting reworking of volcanic products. Driven by wind, these processes significantly influence the geomorphology and prolong the impacts of eruptions on exposed communities and ecosystems. Since such phenomena are of interest to scientists from a range of disciplines (e.g., volcanology, atmospheric and soil sciences), a well-defined, common nomenclature is necessary to optimise the multidisciplinary characterisation of both processes and deposits. We, therefore, first describe ash wind-r…

LCA of Different Construction Choices for a Double-Track Railway Line for Sustainability Evaluations

2023

The international commitment to achieve carbon neutrality in the next few decades has oriented human activities towards the preservation of natural and non-renewable resources. In this context, a great research effort has been devoted to the search for sustainable solutions for the infrastructure construction sector, based on a thorough assessment of the environmental impact (EI). In this regards, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is considered one of the main components of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and, for a comprehensive analysis, all the costs incurred by stakeholders during the useful life of the infrastructure should also be taken into account, applying the Life Cycle Cost (LCC)…

Energy efficient model for biogas production in farm scale

2011

Energy efficient solutions for six farm biogas production was found by calculating mass and energy balance in different scenarios. Raw materials in biogas production were cow manure and grass silage that were produced in these farms. There were calculated mass and energy balances on average for one year biogas prouduction that consisted of grass silage production, raw material transportation and biogas production in the biogas plant. In addition, direct greenhouse gases from biogas production were estimated. The direct mass and energy flows were calculated. It turned out that one input energy unit can produce 5.0 to 5.5 energy units as heat and electricity. Biogas reactor consumed heat from…

Monitoring Volcanic Eruptions Using Trace Metals In Tree-Rings: Preliminary Results From Mt. Etna

2010

8. Active volcanoes can influence surrounding vegetation both through passive degassing during quiescent periods and through eruptive degassing, by introducing into the atmosphere several metals as gases and particles. The chemical composition of tree-rings has been generally used to investigate the effects of anthropogenic gas emissions and dendrochemical methods have successfully recorded variations in the pollution levels. The use of tree-rings analysis in active volcanic areas has shown that vascular plants could be used as archives of volcanogenic metals deposition. Tree cores of Pinus Nigra and Populus tremula were collected in sites located both on the downwind (Citelli and Mt. Fonta…

Economic and Life Cycle Analysis of Passive and Active Monitoring of Ozone for Forest Protection

2021

At forest sites, phytotoxic tropospheric ozone (O3) can be monitored with continuously operating, active monitors (AM) or passive, cumulative samplers (PM). For the first time, we present evidence that the sustainability of active monitoring is better than that of passive sensors, as the environmental, economic, and social costs are usually lower in the former than in the latter. By using data collected in the field, environmental, social, and economic costs were analyzed. The study considered monitoring sites at three distances from a control station in Italy (30, 400, and 750 km), two forest types (deciduous and Mediterranean evergreen), and three time windows (5, 10, and 20 years of moni…

Un peculiare itinerario geo-turistico nella Sicilia occidentale: dall’oceano anossico Mesozoico al Moscato di Pantelleria.

2008

Experimental Constraints on the Deep Magma Feeding System at StromboliVolcano, Italy

2009

International audience; New experiments have been performed on a high-K basalt (PST-9) from Stromboli volcano, Italy, to constrain the physical conditions of golden pumice magmas at their storage level and discuss their petrogenesis. Fluid-present, H2O- and CO2-bearing, near-liquidus experiments were performed at 11508C between 100 and 400MPa and under oxidizing conditions. Glasses were analyzed by Fourier transform IR spectroscopy and their H2O and CO2 concentrations compared with those in glass inclusions.Most glass inclusions cluster near the 200MPa isobar, suggesting entrapment at a depth of ~8 km. Golden pumice magmas have viscosities of 7.9 Pa s and densities of 2.48-2.57 g/cm3. Compo…

The Hydrothermal System of the Campi Flegrei Caldera, Italy

2022

In this chapter, we review the state-of-the-art of the Campi Flegrei caldera (Naples) hydrothermal system, and its behaviour during the last decades. The Campi Flegrei caldera has been undergoing unrest since 1950, as evidenced by recurrent bradyseismic episodes accompanied by manifest changes in the degassing budget, degassing patterns and in the composition of the fumarolic fluids. In-depth analysis of geochemical and geophysical datasets acquired over decades has allowed identification of the mechanisms driving volcanic unrest at the Campi Flegrei caldera. We propose a conceptual model of the hydrothermal system feeding Solfatara fumaroles, where geochemical information is integrated wit…

Alteration-Induced Volcano Instability at La Soufrière de Guadeloupe (Eastern Caribbean)

2021

International audience; Volcanoes are unstable structures that deform laterally and frequently experience mass wasting events. Hydrothermal alteration is often invoked as a mechanism that contributes significantly to volcano instability. We present a study that combines laboratory experiments, geophysical data, and large-scale numerical modeling to better understand the influence of alteration on volcano stability, using La Soufrière de Guadeloupe (Eastern Caribbean) as a case study. Laboratory experiments on variably altered (advanced argillic alteration) blocks show that uniaxial compressive strength, Young's modulus, and cohesion decrease as a function of increasing alteration, but that …