A New Spatiotemporal Risk Index for Heavy Metals: Application in Cyprus

The main aim of this research was to improve risk mapping of heavy metals by accounting for erosion effects. A new spatiotemporal index, namely G2met, is introduced, incorporating the Hakanson index, the G2 model and the Gavrilovic model. The G2met index is expressed in terms of monthly time series of risk maps for each heavy metal and totally. The rich in heavy metals and vulnerable to erosion, island of Cyprus, was selected as a study area, which though was limited to the southern part of the island, where all required data were available. Concentration of major heavy metals was extracted by sampling soil from a grid of 5350 sites. Rainfall, vegetation, soil, land use, topographic, and hydrologic data were collected or calculated from existing European or global databases (WorldClim, BioBar, ESDAC, CORINE, ASTER GDEM, and USGS). A large number of regional-scale risk maps were produced (500-m ell size), i.e. one for each heavy metal and totally per month and annually. Also, choropleth maps per heavy metal are potentially available, in terms of statistics per river basin. The G2met maps provide different patterns in comparison to those depicted by the Hakanson index alone.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen

A Feasibility Analysis for the Development of a Facility Utilizing Olive Oil Mill Production Waste as a Carbon Substrate in Polyhydroxyalkanoate Production in Morocco

This thesis presents a market study and economic feasibility analysis on developing a facility utilizing olive oil production waste as a carbon substrate in polyhydroxyalkanoate production. Three underlying questions will be explored within this thesis: (1) Can olive oil mill effluents be utilized to produce an environmentally friendly polyhydroxyalkanoate bio-plastic?;, (2) Is there potential for the bio-plastic polyhydroxyalkanoate to enter Morocco\u27s plastic market?;, (3) Is it likely that a bio-plastic facility utilizing olive oil mill production waste to create polyhydroxyalkanoate would have long term profitability? This research provides a pathway toward a new solution to a pervasive environmental concern facing Morocco as well as provides options for better and more sustainable business actions, decisions, products, or strategies