Search results for "WASTE"
showing 10 items of 2580 documents
Spatially dynamic forest management to sustain biodiversity and economic returns.
2014
Production of marketed commodities and protection of biodiversity in natural systems often conflict and thus the continuously expanding human needs for more goods and benefits from global ecosystems urgently calls for strategies to resolve this conflict. In this paper, we addressed what is the potential of a forest landscape to simultaneously produce habitats for species and economic returns, and how the conflict between habitat availability and timber production varies among taxa. Secondly, we aimed at revealing an optimal combination of management regimes that maximizes habitat availability for given levels of economic returns. We used multi-objective optimization tools to analyze data fr…
Wastewater treatment: New insight provided by interactive multiobjective optimization
2011
In this paper, we describe a new interactive tool developed for wastewater treatment plant design. The tool is aimed at supporting the designer in designing new wastewater treatment plants as well as optimizing the performance of already available plants. The idea is to utilize interactive multiobjective optimization which enables the designer to consider the design with respect to several conflicting evaluation criteria simultaneously. This is more important than ever because the requirements for wastewater treatment plants are getting tighter and tighter from both environmental and economical reasons. By combining a process simulator to simulate wastewater treatment and an interactive mul…
Agricultural potential of anaerobically digested industrial orange waste with and without aerobic posttreatment
2012
The potential of anaerobically digested orange waste with (AAD) and without (AD) aerobic post-treatment for use in agriculture was evaluated through chemical analyses, short-term phytotoxicity and long-term plant assays. Chemical analyses showed that AD contained ammonia and organic acids, and aerobic post-treatment did not significantly remove these phytotoxins. The N:P2O5:K2O ratio in AD was 1:0.26:0.96 and aerobic post-treatment did not change the composition in AAD except for K2O (1:0.26:1.24). Heavy metal contents in AD and AAD were more or less the same and were below the upper limit recommended for non-sewage sludge application on agricultural soils. Short-term phytotoxicity tests sh…
Is there a Nordic model of final disposal of spent nuclear fuel? Governance insights from Finland and Sweden
2017
This paper explores citizen participation in Swedish and Finnish regulatory processes for final disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF). Finland and Sweden are considered the most advanced worldwide in term of SNF disposal plans. Our aim is to analyze the institutional waste management frameworks, focusing on the role of civil society organizations (CSOs); how lay-people and civil society organizations have been able to participate and contribute to radioactive waste licensing processes; and the nature of radioactive waste risk debates. We review official documents of the waste companies and nuclear safety authorities, plus information from civil society organizations and laypeople. Our theore…
Does corn market uncertainty impact the US ethanol prices?
2018
The growing interest in biofuel as a green energy source has intensified the linkages between corn and ethanol markets, especially in the United States that represents the largest producing and exporting country for ethanol in the world. In this study, we examine the effect of corn market uncertainty on the price changes of US ethanol applying a set of GARCH-jump models. We find that the US ethanol price changes react positively to the corn market volatility shocks after controlling for the effect of oil price uncertainty. In addition, we document that the impact of corn price volatility on the US ethanol prices appears to be asymmetric. Specifically, only the positive corn market volatilit…
The effect of temperature on the biodegradation of different types of packaging materials under test conditions
2023
The development of civilization contributed to the exponential growth in the production of plastics. Policy of the, so-called, “European Green Deal” places particular emphasis on reducing the use of plastics through various mechanisms, including their reuse, recycling and, in particular, the development of new biodegradable and compostable plastics. In order to check if plastics are suitable for biodegradability and compostability they must undergo a series of tests in accordance with applicable standards. The biodegradation test procedures are very general and allow for the use of different temperatures of the biodegradation process in the test. The aim of the research was to evaluate the …
Thermal and thermo-oxidative stability and kinetics of decomposition of PHBV/sisal composites
2017
The decomposition behaviours of composites made of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) and sisal were assessed in terms of thermal stability and decomposition kinetics, under inert and oxidative conditions, by means of multi-rate linear non-isothermal thermogravimetric experiments. A statistical design of experiments was applied to study the influence of the addition of sisal (0-10-20-30%wt), the presence coupling agent (Yes/No) and the applied conditions of work (inert or oxidative). An improvement of the thermal and thermo-oxidative stability of PHBV with the addition of sisal was observed for all cases. An accurate methodology based on iso-conversional methods was applied…
IDENTIFICATION AND QUANTIFICATION OF PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS FROM RED GRAPE POMACE
2018
The wine industry generates a great amount of waste every year, thus its valorization is of most importance. This study uses red, fermented pomace from Cabernet Sauvignon and Feteasca Neagra cultivars. The phenolic compounds were extracted using four different extractions and the content of total polyphenols was determined using a spectrophotometrical method. Several phenolic compounds were analyzed using an HPLC method. The Cabernet Sauvignon pomace had the highest content of total polyphenols and total phenolic compounds analyzed and of quercetin, rutin, ferulic acid and resveratrol, while the Feteasca Neagra pomace had the highest content of gallic acid, syringic acid, cinamic acid and (…
Urban Flood Prediction through GIS-Based Dual-Coupled Hydraulic Models
2022
Propagation of pluvial floods in urban areas, occurring with return time periods of few years, can be well solved using dual models accounting for the mutual relationship between the water level in the streets and the discharges inside the sewer pipes. The extended WEC-flood model (EWEC), based on the use of unstructured triangular meshes and a diffusive formulation of the momentum equations in both the 2D and the 1D lower domains, is presented along with its novelty, limits, and advantages. The model is then applied to a small computational domain in the Palermo area, where only some ‘hard’ data given by one rain gauge has been used for calibration and validation, along with ot…
Poliolefiny i środowisko
2006
Przedstawiono znaczenie, rozwój metod otrzymywania, kierunki zastosowania i perspektywy rozwoju poliolefin (głównie polietylenu i polipropylenu), materiałów dominujących w światowej produkcji i zużyciu tworzyw sztucznych. Scharakteryzowano oddziaływania tych polimerów na środowisko, kolejno w etapie ich wytwarzania, wykorzystywania i utylizacji odpadów poużytkowych.