Systems level roadmap for solvent recovery and reuse in industries

Recovering waste solvent for reuse presents an excellent alternative to improving the greenness of industrial processes. Implementing solvent recovery practices in the chemical industry is necessary, given the increasing focus on sustainability to promote a circular economy. However, the systematic design of recovery processes is a daunting task due to the complexities associated with waste stream composition, techno-economic analysis, and environmental assessment. Furthermore, the challenges to satisfy the desired product specifications, particularly in pharmaceuticals and specialty chemical industries, may also deter solvent recovery and reuse practices. To this end, this review presents a systems-level approach including various methodologies that can be implemented to design and evaluate efficient solvent recovery pathways

Flow analysis of the carbon metabolic processes in Beijing using carbon imbalance and external dependence indices

Maintaining urban systems consumes a large amount and variety of materials and leads to waste flows. Carbon is a basic element that intuitively characterizes the metabolic characteristics of urban resource consumption and pollution emission. In this study, we integrated the carbon metabolic flows among 18 metabolic actors and between these actors and the atmosphere, and calculated flows of material in many categories using empirically derived coefficients to estimate the associated carbon flows (emission and absorption). Taking Beijing as an example, we analyzed the dynamic changes in the carbon metabolism and the structural characteristics of material utilization. We defined two indices to characterize the metabolism (the carbon imbalance and external dependence indices), and identified key actors responsible for changes in the indices. The total carbon metabolism (inputs and outputs) increased by 64% and 200%, respectively, from 1995 to 2015, mainly driven by energy consumption, which accounted for more than 78% of the total. In addition, input growth was driven by food, accounting for up to 6% of the total. The carbon imbalance and external dependence indices increased to nearly two and four times their 1995 values, respectively, mainly due to the Manufacturing, Electricity and Heat Production, and Energy Conversion actors’ demand for food or energy during the early part of the study period, and by the rapid growth of food or energy required by the Urban Life and Transportation actors. Identifying and comparing the key metabolic actors provided a novel way to analyze data to determine targets for carbon regulation and emission reduction measures for Beijing

Integrated Energy, Environmental and Financial Analysis of Biofuel Production from Switchgrass, Hybrid Poplar, Soybean and Castorbean

Biofuels are considered a substitute for petroleum-fuels, but to be viable they should not depend heavily upon non-renewable resources. The objective of this study was to estimate the ultimate amount of energy required to produce liquid-fuels from switchgrass, hybrid poplar, soybean, and castorbean. Emergy (with an "m") accounting was used to integrate all environmental, fossil fuel, and human-service inputs used throughout the production chain from agricultural field to processing facility. Depending on feedstock type and conversion yields, environmental inputs were between 21-44%, fossil fuels were 18-73% and human-derived services were 2-61%. Gallons of transportation fuel produced per gallon of petroleum used ranged from 0.06 to 4.2 for ethanol and 2.6 to 4.4 for biodiesel. No biofuel was made with less than 75% non-renewable resources. Energy embodied in "hidden" indirect paths ranged from 38-99%. The viability of replacing petroleum with cellulosic ethanol or biodiesel is highly questionable

The current trends in industrial symbiosis and its potential implementation in Portuguese industrial parks

The negative effects of rising greenhouse gas emissions and resource consumption have driven countries to seek sustainable solutions that promote economic growth decoupled from rising emissions and rising resource consumption. In this context, industrial symbiosis, which consists of a collaborative approach between different entities involving the use of waste and by-products from one company as raw material in another company, can play an important role for sustainable development. With recognized environmental, economic and social benefits, this practice has been applied around the world, both in developed countries and in countries with developing economies. The main objective of this work is to contribute to the increase of the industrial symbiosis in Portugal, providing an analysis of the existing industrial symbiosis and establishing a series of recommendations and best practices to increase the number of synergies and improve those existing in Portugal. To achieve this main objective, other existing and potential cases of industrial symbiosis around the world have been compiled and analyzed in order to characterize the various synergy networks and to study factors that may inhibit or drive the creation and development of industrial symbiosis relationships. The results demonstrate the enormous potential of application of industrial symbiosis in Portugal. However, for the growth of this practice, various political, cultural and economic barriers have to be overcome and various measures have to be implemented.Os efeitos negativos do aumento das emissões de gases com efeito de estufa e do consumo de recursos têm impulsionado os países para a procura de soluções sustentáveis que promovam o crescimento económico dissociado do aumento das emissões e do aumento do consumo de recursos. Neste contexto, a simbiose industrial que consiste numa abordagem colaborativa entre diferentes entidades que envolve o uso de resíduos e subprodutos de uma empresa como matéria-prima em outra empresa, pode desempenhar um papel importante para o desenvolvimento sustentável. Com reconhecidos benefícios a nível ambiental, económico e social, esta prática tem sido aplicada um pouco por todo o mundo, quer em países desenvolvidos quer em países com economias em vias de desenvolvimento. O principal objectivo deste trabalho é contribuir para o aumento da simbiose industrial em Portugal, proporcionando uma análise da simbiose industrial existente e estabelecendo uma série de recomendações e melhores práticas para aumentar o número de sinergias e melhorar as existentes em Portugal. Para a concretização deste objectivo principal, outros casos de simbiose industrial existentes e potenciais em todo o mundo foram compilados e analisados a fim de caracterizar as várias redes de sinergia e estudar os factores que podem inibir ou impulsionar a criação e desenvolvimento das relações de simbiose industrial. Os resultados evidenciam o enorme potencial de aplicação da simbiose industrial em Portugal. Contudo, para o crescimento desta prática, várias barreiras políticas, culturais e económicas têm ainda que ser transpostas e várias medidas têm que ser implementadas

Analysis and development of indicators for a sustainable use of natural resources in a life cycle perspective

Our whole society depends on the use of natural resources. Yet resources are not always managed in a sustainable way, causing worldwide environmental problems. These are not only direct problems, e.g. the availability of metals, but also many indirect problems, e.g. climate change through combustion of fossil fuels. To monitor the transition towards a more sustainable society in terms of natural resource use, a wide variety of indicators has been developed over the years. The overall aim of this thesis was to analyse and further develop these indicators. Two major types of indicators were identified: footprint and efficiency indicators. Footprint indicators represent the human demand on nature in absolute values. In this thesis, an overall resource footprint indicator was developed, which can be applied at the macro-economic level (e.g. countries, regions). This footprint accounts for all natural resource types in an adequate way: metals, minerals, fossil fuels, nuclear energy, land, water and abiotic renewable resources. In a first case study, the overall resource footprint of the consumption behavior of citizens in the European Union was calculated, together with other environmental impacts. Efficiency indicators represent a ratio of ‘benefits’ over ‘burdens’. However, a diversity of resource efficiency indicators is available today, which generates confusion about their actual meaning. To overcome this problem, a systematized framework for the classification and evaluation of these indicators was developed in this thesis. In a second case study, resource efficiency indicators for plastic waste recycling in a circular economy context were analyzed and further developed

Metrics for optimising the multi-dimensional value of resources recovered from waste in a circular economy: A critical review

© 2017 The Authors - Established assessment methods focusing on resource recovery from waste within a circular economy context consider few or even a single domain/s of value, i.e. environmental, economic, social and technical domains. This partial approach often delivers misleading messages for policy- and decision-makers. It fails to accurately represent systems complexity, and obscures impacts, trade-offs and problem shifting that resource recovery processes or systems intended to promote circular economy may cause. Here, we challenge such partial approaches by critically reviewing the existing suite of environmental, economic, social and technical metrics that have been regularly observed and used in waste management and resource recovery systems' assessment studies, upstream and downstream of the point where waste is generated. We assess the potential of those metrics to evaluate ‘complex value’ of materials, components and products, i.e., the holistic sum of their environmental, economic, social and technical benefits and impacts across the system. Findings suggest that the way resource recovery systems are assessed and evaluated require simplicity, yet must retain a suitable minimum level of detail across all domains of value, which is pivotal for enabling sound decision-making processes. Criteria for defining a suitable set of metrics for assessing resource recovery from waste require them to be simple, transparent and easy to measure, and be both system- and stakeholder-specific. Future developments must focus on providing a framework for the selection of metrics that accurately describe (or at least reliably proxy for) benefits and impacts across all domains of value, enabling effective and transparent analysis of resource recovery form waste in circular economy systems.We gratefully acknowledge support of the UK Natural Environ-ment Research Council (NERC) and the UK Economic and SocialResearch Council (ESRC) who funded this work in the context of‘Complex Value Optimisation for Resource Recovery’(CVORR)project (Grant No. NE/L014149/1)

Current status, emerging challenges, and future prospects of industrial symbiosis in Portugal

Radu Godina would like to acknowledge financial support from Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (UID/EMS/00667/2019).Industrial symbiosis has proven to be an important tool for improving business sustainability with numerous environmental, economic, and social benefits. The literature on this subject has been provided with countless case studies of the application of this practice in different geographical locations. However, studies concerning Portugal in this area are still scarce. Thus, this article aims to map and analyze the existing cases of industrial symbiosis in Portugal, as well as the current state and the legislative context regarding this practice. It also aims to analyze the main barriers to the growth of synergy relations and outline new paths for the development of industrial symbiosis in Portugal. From the analysis to the case studies, it was possible to conclude that most industrial symbiosis networks have few actors, and networks with two and three are common. However, owing to strategic plans, the type of existing economic activities, and the waste generated, there is much potential for industrial symbiosis networks to be established and to contribute to emission reductions, more efficient use of resources, and reduced external dependence. However, in order to increase industrial symbiosis, concerted action must be taken at various levels to encourage companies to develop synergy relations. Changing the legislative framework, making funds available, the role of local governments, the existence of a facilitator, and the use of some industries as anchor tenants are some of the aspects that can contribute to the increase of industrial symbiosis in Portugal.publishersversionpublishe

Towards a life cycle sustainability analysis: A systematic review of approaches to sustainable manufacturing.

In 2011, the international organisations launched the Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment Framework for experts from different disciplinary fields to discuss and develop a holistic and integrated approach that supports effective sustainable development and sustainability decision-making. In response, various authors have used combinations of sustainable manufacturing methodologies and approaches to support this goal. This paper used a structured approach to a literature review to systematically examine sustainable manufacturing approaches between 2006 and 2015, and the move from segmented assessment methods to the holistic and integrated Life Cycle Sustainability Analysis. The analysis of the identified 54 relevant contributions indicated 68.5% of the articles focused on sustainable product development techniques, whereas 31.5% on sustainability assessment techniques. From the second, 70.4% of these were segmented approaches while only 29.6% incorporated the three sustainability dimensions. Further, the analysis showed that the energy aspect was incorporated into all the approaches, and there is a dearth of holistic approaches to sustainable manufacturing. Additionally, the paper initiates a theoretical framework that will underpin the development of a holistic simulation-based analytical framework that integrates goals that support progressive sustainable product development with methods that focus on the holistic quantitative analysis of the three sustainability dimensions.N/

Sustainability Indexing and Benchmarking Framework for Oil and Gas Companies in Qatar: Review, Analysis, And Future Perspectives

The oil and gas sector has a major impact on sustainability dimensions characterized by environmental, economic, and social aspects. Because of this multidimensionality of sustainability objectives and the complexity involved in the industry practices, multi-criteria decision analysis techniques have become gradually more popular in decision making for sustainable businesses. The aim of this thesis is to develop a dedicated systematic and comprehensive framework for sustainability assessment of the oil and gas industry in Qatar, which covers the three pillars of sustainability. Five leading companies from the oil and gas sector in Qatar are selected to be the focus of this study. Procedures of selecting and quantifying the significant indicators, converting them into dimensionless values for rational benchmarking, weighting them according to their importance, and ranking the alternatives according to the aggregated scores are presented. Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity analysis are conducted to investigate the effect of uncertainty and to ensure reliability as well as the robustness of aggregated scores