Optimizing Biobutanol Production: Analysis of Feedstock Selection, Pre-treatment Methods, and Microorganism Strains for Biobutanol Production from Agricultural and Industrial By-products

This study presents an analysis of key elements of biobutanol production, including feedstock selection, pre-treatment methods, and microorganism strains. Using laboratory experiments, we evaluated the ability of different microorganisms to convert various agricultural and industrial by-products into biobutanol. We tested three microorganism strains: C. acetobutylicum DSM 792, C. beijerinckii DSM 6423, and C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum DSM 14923. The results showed that biodiesel production residues, various agricultural hydrolysates, yeast residues, and milk processing residues were the most suitable feedstocks for biobutanol production. In addition, the authors explored different pre-treatment methods, such as microbial and chemical hydrolysis, to enhance the efficiency of biobutanol production. Our findings provide valuable insights for optimizing biobutanol production processes in line with sustainable and cost-effective production principles

MSW Management in Mountainous Areas: Outcomes from a Comparison Between Two Italian Provinces

In the present paper, two case studies are reported regarding the municipal solid waste (MSW) management trend in the last decades in two Italian areas in order to propose some guidelines for replicating the approaches. The first case study has a very good selective collection (SC) rate that is expected to reach 80 % in a few years. SC is made mainly kerbside. There is no thermo-chemical plant in the territory (but a part of the residual MSW is burnt in an external combustion plant). A local plant combines anaerobic digestion with post-composting as a main destination for food waste and green waste. A sanitary landfill receives the main stream of locally pre-treated residual MSW. The adopted tariff helped increasing the SC rate: since 2013, the punctual tariff has been adopted. The second case study concerns an area where SC reached about 75 % in 2019, before the pandemic period that affected the performances of the sector. The punctual tariff has been recently introduced. In the territory, there are an incineration plant and a Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) plant that sends the final product mainly to a cement factory. No plant for the biodegradable waste exists locally (export is adopted). Looking at the two case-studies, useful waste guidelines for similar areas could be set up starting from these experiences

The Agricultural Sector towards Climate Neutrality

Agriculture is one of the leading sectors which significantly contribute to the increase of GHG emissions, thus contributing to the negative impact that climate change can cause on biodiversity and create extreme weather changes, raise the sea levels, revers ocean currents etc. One of the main objectives of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is to improve and promote the sustainability of rural regions by providing economic support and direct payments to ensure farmers’ incomes, which can be compared with the level of other sectors. Direct payments are not only a way to reward farmers but also an opportunity to generate income for farmers in an environmentally friendly operation, providing compensation for possible losses due to reduced production intensity or for costs incurred by farmers in applying climate and environmentally-friendly practices. However, the mechanisms used in the CAP – direct payments and subsidies – do not significantly increase agriculture’s sustainability and technological efficiency. Using a results-based scheme, it is possible to see more clearly the relationship between payment and biodiversity achievements; farmers are defined with specific results that must be achieved. Still, no specific actions are being taken taken to arrive at the results. In this article, the analysis based on a sustainability assessment of CAP measures is performed and blind spots are identified

Analysis of Textile Circularity Potential

Global annual textile consumption has doubled in the last two decades and is expected to keep increasing [1]. Since the textile system operates primarily in a linear way, it is highly polluting and creates a lot of waste. But nevertheless, it has a high potential for circularity since most textile products can be recycled or reused. Today most of the waste ends up in landfills, and less than 1% is recycled back into textiles [2]. This study aims to gather information and evaluate which textile product group has the highest potential for circular economy growth. It covers three main textile product streams: fashion, home, and technical textiles. The groups were compared using eleven criteria: environmental impact, washes, market demand, technology energy efficiency, social aspect, production, export/import, landfilled waste, recycled waste, synthetic materials, projected lifetime. Indicative values have been found for each sustainability indicator by using and mathematically transforming data from the scientific literature. The evaluation method used in this study was multi-criteria decision analysis. The results indicated that the fashion textile group has the most significant potential for circular economy development

Bibliometric Review of Electrification of Enterprise and Last-Mile Delivery Fleet

The impact of transport on carbon emissions accounts for 16.2 % of total global emissions, of which road transport accounts for 11.9 %. Road freight accounts for 40 % of road transport emissions and 4.76 % of global CO2 emissions. This study analyses the existing scientific literature in the field of transport electrification for transport companies in general and for ‘last mile delivery’ logistics companies specializing in urban delivery within parcel collection networks. The purpose of this study is to determine the state of the art for electric vehicles in fleets and how this topic can be assessed for sustainability. Bibliographic validation is primarily quantitative and is the most efficient method for dealing with the large volumes of information from the Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases. VOSviewer software was used to map the relationships between the most frequently used keywords in academic articles. The results show a small number of research papers addressing the electrification of fleet transportation. Only 1 of 523 WoS publications and 1 of 656 fleet transport publications in Scopus covered last-mile delivery for the selected period (1985–2022). It should also be noted that only 39 publications in 1987 in WoS database and 29 papers in 1891 in Scopus on transport electrification have sustainability rating links. The study reveals a lack of research in the subfield of transport electrification. The authors conclude that more research on sustainability criteria for fleet electrification is needed to support a smooth transition to EVs within this specific subfield of transport and to contribute to emission decrease in transport sector

Comparative Analysis of the CO2 Extraction from Biogas Absorption Processes Effectiveness

Currently, the developed EU countries have implemented biomethane production projects from biogas, supply it to natural gas distribution grid with subsequent production of electricity or (and) heat, and use biomethane as motor fuel or supply to the gas network. It is also extremely relevant for Ukraine, supposing the problems with gas import due to Russian aggression and the presence of a large agricultural potential. The concern that arises is the rational choice of the technology for producing biomethane from biogas.The Gas Institute of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine has extensive experience in the development of technologies for the biogas collection, its direct usage, and CO2 extraction by the amine absorption method. Some of the technologies have been implemented at landfills in Ukraine. Data on other methods of CO2 extraction are widely available in world publications, so the authors compared the technologies from the point of view of their practical use possibility. Using computer modeling, the energy costs during the production of biomethane from biogas using the most advanced amine and water absorption processes for cleaning biogas from carbon dioxide were analysed. The combined water-amine absorption method of biogas purification from CO2 was included in the comparative analysis in which carbon dioxide was previously removed by water absorption at a pressure up to 0.3 MPa and output finally purified by amine absorption. Calculations for amine technology are verified in a pilot study.For a range of the CO2 concentration in biogas 32– 42 % vol., the specific energy consumption when using water absorption, the extraction of carbon dioxide from biogas is on average two times less compared to amine absorption, but at the same time the loss of CH4 due to its solubility during water absorption amounted to 7.1–7.6 %, with practically no losses of CH4 in amine absorption, and minor losses (0.17–2.8 %) in combined water-amine technology.The energy consumption of combined water-amine absorption is comparable to that of water absorption due to: a) reduction of heat losses for regeneration process of saturated amine absorbent, as part of CO2 has already been removed with water technology; b) using the CH4 excess to compensate power consumption of the biogas compressor during the preliminary water absorption of CO2 and/ or to compensate heat costs of the saturated amine absorbent regeneration.The results of extracting carbon dioxide from biogas processes modeling can be used to optimize technological absorption schemes for the production of biomethane, an analogue of natural gas

Effect of Particle Shape on The Behavior of Polymer-Improved Sandy Soil Used in Pavements Due to Freeze-Thaw Cycles

Freeze-thaw cycles have a significant negative effect on the engineering behaviour of soil in cold regions. In this study, the compressive strength of stabilized, poorly graded sandy soil used in road pavement that was subjected to different freeze-thaw cycles was studied. Samples with three different particle shapes were stabilized with a binder developed by mixing polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) and ethylene glycol monobutyl ether (EGBE). The PVAc/EGBE weight ratio was 2:1, and PVAc was added at 1%, 2%, and 3% of the dry weight of the soil, with the effect of up to ten freeze-thaw cycles evaluated. Results showed that the addition of binder decreased optimum moisture content and increased compressive strength. An increase in particle roundness results in a decrease in the magnitude of compressive strength but increases the soil composite ductility. Changing particle shape from angular to rounded resulted in a more significant decrease in compressive strength than changing from rounded to well-rounded. The decrease in compressive strength is most significant between the first and fourth freezing-thawing cycles and marginal between the fourth and tenth. The negative effect of increasing the roundness of particles is compensated by increasing binder percentages

Regulating the Unknown: The Case of Cooling Technologies across Africa

The impacts of climate change and the resources to adapt to it are unequally distributed. Africa, the hottest and poorest continent, is already being adversely affected by rising temperatures; a trend that will continue. Building climate resilience is a bigger challenge in Africa than anywhere else. When it comes to climate adaptation, cooling technologies – including fans and air conditioners (AC) – have been shown to improve the quality of life. In rapidly urbanising and warming Africa, the widespread deployment of cooling technologies could save millions of lives in the coming decades. At this point, however, AC adaptation rates in Africa are only in the single digits with less than 5 %. In contrast, 88 % of households in the US, the country with one of the highest AC penetration rates, have an air conditioner. This is about to change as the number of air conditioners and cooling fans in Africa are expected to double this decade. We should therefore expect an exponential increase in the demand for electricity for these technologies in the coming decades. This raises the important question of where Africa will be on the AC energy efficiency frontier. At this point, Africa imports most of its cooling technology from global companies in China, Japan, South Korea and the US. The quality these companies choose to offer in the current African market will shape the continent’s equipment stock and electricity demand for years to come. There are currently only a few regulations in Africa encouraging the diffusion of energy-efficient cooling technologies. Worse still, there is a lack of basic information needed to introduce the right regulations. The aim of this paper is to show that consumers currently have limited access to information about the energy consumption of the cooling technologies available in Africa. To demonstrate this, the authors built a novel database by scraping Africa’s largest e-commerce platform in 13 different countries over a period of more than three years. Overall, it was found that less than 10 % of all ACs offered (N = 1382) have information related to energy consumption. In addition, we discovered that the disclosure of this information is highly idiosyncratic and does not appear to have strategic goals. In particular, it is unlikely that only the most efficient AC models would provide the information and that the communication of energy information in the market would occur without government intervention

Large-Scale Testing and Long-Term Monitoring of Reinforced Earth Abutment – A Case Study

Standard methods of controlling geotechnical structures are based on testing of individual elements (e.g., piles, anchors, barrettes) or on inventory of their displacements (for instance, current control, i.e., monitoring of retaining structures). It is only the bridgework where, due to uniqueness and importance of structures, the examinations are often run for the whole structures. The main problems are then the following: how to ensure proper repeatability of measurement accuracy (for long-term testing), how to establish optimum criteria of assessing the test results, how to use the results to make possible repair actions and how to interpret the obtained results. Based on an example of test of bridge abutment out of reinforced earth, the paper presents the method of displacement testing, basic criteria of assessing the results, measurement results during static load phase, during dynamic phase and results of long-term measurements. Large number of measurements enables for both evaluation of technical condition of the structure under testing (which was the main goal of the procedures performed) and drawing conclusions referring to the methodology of testing the structure out of reinforced earth as concerns the evaluation criteria adopted

The Implementation of Green Logistics in Road Transportation

The article presents an analysis of academic literature in an attempt to identify the importance of the implementation of green logistics in road transportation. Areas of concern as well as solution and implementation opportunities are presented. A research of transportation companies was conducted in an attempt to understand the real situation regarding the implementation of green logistics measures. The research results are presented in the article. Solutions are provided in the form of a conceptual model for the implementation of green logistics measures in transportation organisations. Nowadays the interest in ecology, minimization of fossil fuel usage, and mitigation of harmful road transportation consequences is rapidly increasing. Eco-friendly vehicles, effective transportation system, application of advanced technologies and innovations should become the main factors in promoting the implementation of green logistics in the transportation sector to mitigate negative effects on the environment. In order to maintain their competitive advantage and customer satisfaction, transportation organisations should begin implementing the concept of green logistics in their businesses. The significance of the concept of green logistics can be observed on global, regional, and national levels. Business is still seen as the leader, responsible for initiation and implementation of ecological logistics principles. The implementation of green logistics is critically important; however, lack of funding and collaboration between the public and the private sectors prevent companies from adopting green logistics measures. Economic driving classes, employee education, electric and hybrid cargo-handling vehicles are some of the possible green logistics measures.