Valuing Nature in Business-A Case Study of Chemical Manufacturing and Forest Products Industries

Over the past several decades, there has been an increased realization of the extent to which the means of production in human society depend on and impact increasingly fragile natural systems. Working with our client, The Nature Conservancy, we researched trends in ecosystem valuation within the chemical manufacturing and forest product industries, discerning ways to identify and evaluate future ecosystem investment opportunities. This research resulted in a framework that businesses could use to identify future ecosystem service opportunities and then score the opportunities’ business values using a multi-criteria analysis approach. We identified potential ecosystem service opportunities by overlaying classifications of business risk on major operational subsectors within the industries, populating the resulting table with key ecosystem impacts and opportunities. Through the application of this process, we identified three hypothetical ecosystem service projects applicable to both the chemical manufacturing and forest product industries and used them to test our scoring framework. The identified projects were constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment, coastal habitat protection for storm surge protection, and forest carbon sequestration. We ranked the business value of each project using five criteria important to businesses: financial value, reputational benefits, environmental risk reduction, political and regulatory enabling conditions, and level of knowledge and activity in the field. According to our research, businesses emphasize financial benefits most highly when evaluating potential investments, so we weighted financial values most heavily in our ranking scheme. Our analysis indicated that a forest carbon sequestration project had the highest potential business value relative to the other project types due to its higher expected financial benefits. The constructed wetland project, which also had a relatively high expected financial benefit, followed second. Finally, the coastal habitat protection project had the lowest relative business value due to high costs, a low level of scientific knowledge, and weak regulatory support. The identification and ranking methodologies are designed to be flexible, allowing adaptation for use given varying business objectives. The weights on the five valuation criteria can be adjusted to reflect a business’s concerns. This scoring methodology is useful for businesses because few tools exist to enable comparative analysis of business ecosystem service investments. We believe this tool provides a useful approach to determining the value that nature and ecosystem services provide to a wide range of businesses, and we recommend its application outside the chemical manufacturing and forest products industry for further refinement

Hydrolysis of particulate organic matter originated from municipal wastewater treated under aerobic and anaerobic conditions

Die Hydrolyse von partikulären organischen Substanzen (POM) aus kommunalem Abwasser gilt als limitierender Faktor in biologischen Systemen. Die Mechanik und die limitierenden Faktoren des Hydrolyseprozesses sind nicht hinreichend bekannt. Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, die Produkte zu charakterisieren, die bei der Hydrolyse von POM aus kommunalem Abwasser unter aeroben und anaeroben Bedingungen entstehen. Die biologische Abbaubarkeit der Hydrolyseprodukte wurde, basierend auf dem nominalen Molekulargewicht (MW) und der UV-Absorption, unter Verwendung der Größenausschlusschromatographie, gekoppelt mit der kontinuierlichen Detektion von gelöstem organischen Kohlenstoff (DOC) und UV Absorption (254 nm) (SEC-OCD UV), bestimmt. Unter aeroben Bedingungen konnte die Bildung und der Abbau von hydrolysierter POM gleichzeitig beobachtet werden. Das Chromatogramm zeigte zudem eine Akkumulation von organischen Produkten mit hohem Molekulargewicht (HMW) (nominelles MW > 20.000 g/mol) innerhalb der ersten drei Tage. Dies deutet darauf hin, dass Bakterien diese Zeit zum Wachstum und zur Entwicklung der notwendigen Enzyme für den Abbau der organischen HMW-Produkte benötigen, die größtenteils nach 13 Tagen abgebaut waren. Der Abbau der organischen Trockensubstanz (VSS) betrug nach 13 Tagen etwa 70 %. Unter anaeroben Bedingungen, hingegen, akkumulierten organische Produkte mit niedrigem Molekulargewicht (nominelles MW: 150 – 1550 g/mol) innerhalb von zwei Tagen bei pH 7 ± 0,2 und innerhalb von vier Tagen bei pH 6 ± 0,2. Es wurde festgestellt, dass pH-Änderungen (d. h. 6 und 7) nicht die Hydrolysegeschwindigkeit beeinflussten, sondern die Art der produzierten flüchtigen Fettsäuren (VFA) und deren Abbaugeschwindigkeit. Der VSS-Abbau betrug nach 24 Tagen etwa 60 %. Die Wachstumsdynamik der Bakterien und die Bildung extrazellulärer polymerer Substanzen (EPS) wurde unter aeroben und anaeroben Bedingungen mit Hilfe der konfokalen Laserscanning-Mikroskopie visualisiert. Die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit haben das grundlegende Verständnis der aeroben und anaeroben Hydrolyse von POM stark verbessert. Mittels der verwendeten Chromatographie-Methode konnten Hydrolyseprodukte erfolgreich charakterisiertund detaillierte Einblicke in den Hydrolyseprozess gewonnen werden

Corrective action investigation plan: Area 2 Photo Skid 16 Wastewater Pit, Corrective Action Unit 332. Revision 1

This Corrective Action Investigation Plan (CAIP) contains a detailed description and plan for an environmental investigation of the Area 2 Photo Skid 16 Wastewater Pit. The site is located in Area 2 of the Nevada Test Site. The Photo Skid Wastewater Pit was used for disposal of photochemical process waste, and there is a concern that such disposal may have released photochemicals and metals to the soil beneath the pit and adjacent to it. The purpose of this investigation is to identify the presence and nature of contamination present in and adjacent to the wastewater pit and to determine the appropriate course of environmental response action for the site. The potential courses of action for the site are clean closure through remediation, closure in place (with or without remediation), or no further action