Adriana Del Borghi

Abstract Background, aim, and scope In order to apply the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) to products or services, specific rules [Product Category Rules (PCR)] have to be issued to ensure comparability among different declarations within the same ...

Purpose The packaging system plays an essential role in the logistic chain and takes into account the rise in packaging demand and consumption. A study on sustainability was carried out through a comparative life cycle assessment in order to quantify and compare the environmental impacts of plastic, corrugated board and wood (solid, MDF and particleboard) crates used for food delivery. Single-use and multi-use systems were considered and compared. Methods According to ISO 14040 and ISO 14044, the whole life cycle of crates was divided into four primary phases: raw materials acquisition, crate manufacturing, transport (including the reuse, if applicable) and final disposal. The functional unit used for this study was 1 crate with an external dimension of 400 × 600 × 240 mm and with an inner volume of 50 l. The comparison focused on the critical parameters expected to have a higher influence on the results, such as the distances for delivery and the number of reuses for multi-use crat...

Purpose Despite in Europe companies and policy makers perceive both the European Commission’s Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and Type III environmental declarations as applicable tools supporting external communication or public procurement, at scientific level there is still no prompt and comprehensive comparison between the PEF Guide and the EPD requirements. Therefore, this paper aims to compare the relevant PEF Guide requirements with the key rules defined by the International EPD® System (IES)—one of the main widely accepted EPD schemes —identifying the critical discrepancies which potentially reduces the consistency of the outcomes. Methods Coherently with the approach of the PEF Guide, the comparison was based on the analysis of the following criteria: scope, LCA application, reporting, review. Further, after a qualitative pre-assessment, the average results of the EPDs published in IES framework were evaluated in respect to the available benchmarks for the products belonging to the same categories for which the Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCRs) were finalised. Results and discussion An overview of some key selected requirements contained in the PEF Guide was compared with the requirements/specifications contained in the IES GPI. Despite having a comparable scope and being based on a life cycle approach, the methods are not aligned in several key requirements, such as cut-off rules, modelling approach, allocation rules, and impact categories. The results of the comparison between the benchmarks defined in the PEFCRs and the average impacts in the EPDs show a general low comparability and, anyway, limited to the climate change impact category. Conclusions This paper was aimed to compare the relevant PEF Guide requirements with the key rules defined by the IES. Several critical discrepancies have been identified concerning key requirements affecting the results. The main outcome is that PEF and GPI results cannot be considered comparable and the EU PEF and EPDs cannot be alternatively used as tools supporting Green Public Procurement (GPP) tender requirements. In conclusion, the development of ecolabels can be stimulated via several initiatives such as improving the access to good quality LCA data and strengthening the link between public procurement and environmental labels, but a lot of work is still to be done to reach the harmonisation of rules and the comparability of the results. At present, a statement of non-comparability could be added on ecolabels based on different specific rules.

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenge posed by climate change. Besides the “flexibility mechanisms” defined by the Kyoto Protocol to lower the overall costs of achieving their emissions targets, The Voluntary Green House Gases (GHG) reduction projects can have a lead role in GHG reduction in “non Emissions Trading System ETS sectors”. Nowadays, the voluntary market is characterised by critical aspects, such as fragmentation, lack of accounting, monitoring and validation rules that have led to the low spread of voluntary emission reduction projects developed by local authorities in the European Union despite their high potentiality.

World Fairs such as the Expo events are major events organized to generate tourism revenues, attract people and investments, but which result in environmental impacts that need to be accounted in a reliable and comprehensive way. In particular, accounting the greenhouse gases of a mega-event and comparing the emissions of different events is a very challenging task due to the large amount of data to be collected and to the lack of a specific methodology. In this paper, the quantification of greenhouse gas emissions and removals of Milan Expo 2015 international exposition is presented. Calculations, performed according to the international standard ISO 14064-1, includes office activities, construction of expo site and pavilions, operations and decommissioning process. Detailed information on data collecting methods and sources is shown in the paper. Furthermore, the obtained GHG results normalized to the number of visitors were compared to other mega-events, i.e. the latest Olympic Games, FIFA World Cups and Shanghai Expo 2010. With all the limitations described in the paper, the results showed a total impact of World Expos of about one ton of CO2-eq per square meter of exhibition and averagely 60 kgCO2-eq/visitor. Olympic Games and FIFA World Cups have an average impact respectively of 400 kgCO2-eq/visitor and 600 kgCO2-eq/visitor. The performed analysis was presented in the form of requirements and guidelines with the aim of refining the existing standard methodology highlighting the specific aspect of mega-events and transferring the findings to future world fairs.

Dear colleagues,
This Special Issue aims to attract works of scientific interest to deepen our understanding of these fields with different approaches. Therefore, research activities about different strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation in the energy sector are welcome.
Topics for this Special Issue include but are not limited to:
carbon footprint and energy efficiency climate neutral business energy-related carbon emissions reduction carbon capture and storage renewable energy decarbonization of energy supply reducing energy remand energy efficiency enhancement behavioral changes circular carbon economy carbon neutrality at universities climate mitigation in cities energy infrastructure resilience adaptation measures of the energy sector

https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/ClimateAdaptation_Mitigation

... Water Phosphoric Acid Caustic Soda Solution Water Steam ... 4.3.1 Indirect Hydration The indirect hydration uses as principal raw material ethylene from different sources: coke production, cracking gas of ethane/propane mixtures, cracking gas of heavy gasoline or nafta. ...

Two leachates from sanitary landfill, characterized by different biodegradability, were mixed with municipal wastewater in different proportions and aerobically treated by activated sludge. The overall removals of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and am- monia as well as the fraction of hardly-biodegradable substances were investigated to se- lect the best operating conditions for the simultaneous removal of these pollutants. Pre- liminary

A study was made on the data taken in 2006 on air emissions gathered at various Italian cement plants and, in particular, in 73 kilns according to production class, kiln type, and alternative fuels used in terms of type and quantity. The emissions parameters considered included total dust, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, CO, total organic carbons, HC1, HF, metals, PAH, and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzo-furans (PCDDIF). The average concentrations of the various pollutants, for the plants using only traditional fuels, and for the plants also using alternative fuels were compared. The use of alternative fuels in the 22 kilns studied did not influence the emission values of the pollutants examined. In some cases these emissions were under the legal limit allowed for traditional fuels. The results from the Italian kilns and those published by Cembureau from 200 European kilns were compared. The comparison confirmed that the emission performances of cement kilns appear to...

ABSTRACT Food production significantly contributes to consumption of resources and presents remarkable environmental impacts to be evaluated through a life cycle approach. The present paper aims to present and discuss the results of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) performed on 13 tomato based products (tomato purée, chopped tomatoes and peeled tomatoes in tomato juice) produced in Italy by a Group representing one of largest agri-food industry European companies. The environmental hotspots of the whole supply chains of the investigated products have been identified and technical and managerial solutions have been defined. Agricultural phase and packaging production resulted to be the life-cycle stages with the highest impact in all the considered categories. The identified improvement options related to packaging subsystem are the reduction of weight and the switch to different packaging materials. Other improvement options can be adopted in the cultivation phase, such as use of organic fertilizers or inorganic fertilizers with lower nitrogen and phosphorus content, crop rotation and use of efficient irrigation systems. The application of LCA methodology to tomato product systems has highlighted some methodological issues that will be taken into account during the CPC 2132 and CPC 2139 Product Category Rules (PCR) development in the framework of the International EPD® System.

The ability of Spirulina platensis LB2340 to grow on carbon dioxide and mixtures of bicarbonate/carbonate was compared under light irradiation conditions simulating those naturally present in temperate latitudes. Batch tests performed at 25°C in open tanks suggested that inorganic carbon is preferentially assimilated in the form of bicarbonate and that its utilization efficiency depends either on pH or final biomass level. The efficiencies of photosynthesis (PE) and carbon utilization (CUE) on carbon dioxide reached maximum values (>6 and 38%) after 4 and ≥7 days, respectively. They then progressively decreased. Fed-batch tests performed on carbon dioxide showed the highest values of biomass concentration (1.50 g l−1) and PE (1.1%) under pseudo steady-state conditions at 0.25 l per day feeding rate.

In the present work desorption tests of an artificially contaminated soil by naphatelene sulphonated compounds have been carried out by soil washing realised by water at different pH: Naphtalene-1,5-disulfonic acid (1-5 NDS), 2-naphthol-6,8 disulphonic acid (G-acid) and sodium beta-naphtalene-sulphonate (beta-salt) have been selected as more representative organic compounds present in the ex industrial site of ACNA (Cengio, SV, Italy) in which very serious contamination levels of several pollutants are present both in the soils and surface waters. Equilibrium batch tests have been carried out in order to find the best operative condition in column washing tests. The obtained results can be considered very preliminary but useful to arrange a next experimental work that will be realised on real contaminated soils.

... Fabio Di Benedetto DIMA, University of Genoa, Genoa, 16145, Italy ... 305–313. [4] Gardner, FJ, Day, MJ, Brandon, NP, Pashley, MN, and Cassidy, M., 2000, “SOFC Technology Development at Rolls-Royce,” J. Power Sources, 86, pp. 122–129. ...

In this paper, we report on results of investigations of the effects of fluctuations in the kinetics of a batch chemical reactor on the time trend of both concentration and temperature. Mixing problems and the relevant lack of ideality in the stirred tank may produce inhomogeneity in the chemical and physical properties of the global reacting system. The process is

The anodes used in SOFCs are composites, formed by a mixture of nickel and YSZ particles. This paper presents a model for this type of electrode, taking mass transport effects into account. The effect of the operating conditions, such as temperature and pressure, is discussed. Also, the effect of the choice of the geometrical parameters, such as electrode thickness and

ABSTRACT Alkaline wastewaters (AWWs), such as those produced by chemical plants in the manufacture of several organic molecules of commercial interest including caprolactam, are characterized by very high alkalinity, salinity, and COD values (about 350 g/L), in addition to the presence of recalcitrant organic molecules; thus, they are very difficult to clean. A previously devised treatment process for such wastewaters consists of three main steps:  an initial pretreatment to acidify the polluted stream, a successive extraction of the biorecalcitrant compound, and a final biological process. In particular, this study focuses on the first step, during which a black mud precipitate is formed. An optimization of this step is necessary to render such slurries more treatable for the usual solid−liquid separation units (i.e., filtration, centrifugation etc.), because of their serious fouling characteristics. In this work, CaCl2 was used to produce CaSO4 as a coprecipitator to improve the AWW filtration capacity, COD abatement, etc. The experimental analysis was carried out by factorial experiments to optimize this pretreatment process.

ABSTRACT Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a very innovative and promising solution for greenhouse gases (GHG) reduction, i.e., capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) at its source and storing it indefinitely to avoid its release to the atmosphere. This paper investigates a set of key issues in the development of specific rules for the application of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to CCS. The following LCA-based information are addressed in this work: definition of service type, definition of functional unit, definition of system boundaries, choice of allocation rules, choice of selected Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) results or other selected parameters for description of environmental performance. From a communication perspective, the specific rules defined in this study have been developed coherently with the requirements of a type III environment label scheme, the International EPD (R) System, according to the ISO 14025 standard.

ABSTRACT The scientific community is currently examining potential approaches in order to reduce the anthropical contributions to global warming. One approach is carbon capture and its storage, i.e., capturing CO2 at its source and storing it indefinitely to avoid its release into the atmosphere. Conversion of CO2 by microalgae or cyanobacteria is a sequestration option. Here, the application of an air-lift reactor to flue gas treatment using cyanobacteria for the absorption of CO2 was investigated, with the simultaneous abatement of NOx. A Spirulina platensis culture was fed with CO2 and NOx, simulating a flue gas. The preliminary test yielded positive indications on the process feasibility, both in terms of cell productivity (86.8 mg L–1d–1) and CO2 abatement (229 mg d–1). Opportune dosages of flue gas used in fed-batch test achieved a high abatement of CO2 (407 mg d–1), 90.0 % removal of NOx, and a biomass production of 188.7 mg L–1d–1.

A bench-scale biofilter with a 0.5-m high filter bed, inoculated with a toluene-degrading strain of Acinetobacter sp. NCIMB 9689, was used to study toluene removal from a synthetic waste air stream. Different sets of continuous tests were conducted at influent toluene concentrations ranging over 0.1-4.0 g m(-3) and at superficial gas velocities ranging over 17.8-255 m h(-1). The maximum volumetric toluene removal rate for the biofilter (242 g m(-3) h(-1)) was obtained at a superficial gas velocity of 127.5 m h(-1) (corresponding to a residence time of 28 s) and a toluene inlet concentration of 4.0 g m(-3). Under these operating conditions, toluene removal efficiency was only 0.238, which suggested that effective operation required higher residence times. Removal efficiencies higher than 0.9 were achieved at organic loads less than 113.7 g m(-3) h(-1). A macro-kinetic study, performed using concentration profiles along the bioreactor, revealed this process was limited by diffusion at organic loads less than 100 g m(-3) h(-1) and by biological reaction beyond this threshold.