Toward eco-efficient and circular industrial systems: ten years of advances in production management systems and a thematic framework

Environmental sustainability urgently needs to be embraced as a driver of development for society and industry. While researchers and practitioners herald numerous benefits when adopting eco-efficiency and circular economy approaches, these green solutions are yet to become pervasive principles for designing and operating industrial systems. This study reviews the last ten years of research contributions from the International Federation for Information Processing Working Group 5.7 (IFIP WG5.7) on Advances in Production Management Systems (APMS) through its dedicated annual conference. A systematic literature review method was employed to map the APMS conference papers against eco-efficiency principles and to identify how these principles have been addressed by this research community. A cross-thematic analysis further describes the trends around dominant themes in production research. Finally, the paper concludes with an update on eco-efficiency principles applied to manufacturing and a proposed framework to consider more systematically the environmental implications of advances in production research

Comparative analysis of the life cycle of technologies for energy recovery of plastic waste

Tema ovog diplomskog rada je gospodarenje plastičnim otpadom. Plastični otpad vrlo je vrijedna sirovina s energetskog aspekta te njegovo konačno odlaganje na odlagalištu čini nepovratnu štetu na okoliš. Plastični otpad moguće je energetski oporabiti konvencionalnim tehnologijama termičke energetske oporabe poput spaljivanja i tehnologijama kemijske oporabe. Fokus ovog rada postavljen je na tehnologije kemijske oporabe plastičnog otpada: pirolizu i isplinjavanje. Produkti predmetnih tehnologija su tekuća i plinovita goriva, koja se mogu koristiti za naknadne energetske transformacije ili kao ulazna sirovina u industriji. Sukladno smjernicama EU i modelu cirkularne ekonomije potrebno je razmotriti predmetne tehnologije s naglaskom na analizi životnog ciklusa (LCA analiza, eng. Life Cycle Analysis). Dostupne LCI baze podataka ne opisuju predmetne tehnologije energetske oporabe plastičnog otpada te je u okviru ovog rada najprije izvršen detaljan pregled literature te su prikupljeni podaci o ulaznim i izlaznim tokovima postojećih postrojenja za pirolizu i isplinjavanje plastičnog otpada. Na temelju prikupljenih podataka izrađeni su LCI (eng. Life Cycle Inventory) setovi podataka razmatranih tehnologija koji opisuju sve ulazne tokove kao što su npr. potrebna električna energija, gorivo i materijali te sve izlazne tokove koji obuhvaćaju korisnu proizvedenu energiju i korisne produkte, ali i nusprodukte kao što su pepeo, šljaka i štetne emisije prema okolišu. Formirani LCI setovi upisani su u računalni program OpenLCA i integrirani u bazu podataka Ecoinvent povezivanjem s dostupnim europskim i lokalnim LCI setovima iz baze. U sklopu rada provedena je usporedna LCA analiza životnih ciklusa predmetnih tehnologija energetske oporabe plastičnog otpada te uobičajeno korištenih rješenja za zbrinjavanje generiranog plastičnog otpada poput njegove termičke obrade u spalionicama otpada s kogeneracijskom proizvodnjom električne i toplinske energije te odlaganja na uređena odlagališta otpada. Provedena je ekološka analiza koja je uključivala utjecaj rada pojedinih sustava s ciljem boljeg razumijevanja pozitivnih učinaka i negativnih ekoloških posljedica koji mogu proizići iz komercijalizacije tehnologija pirolize i isplinjavanja otpadne plastike u usporedbi s postojećim tehnologijama gospodarenja plastičnim otpadom te pronalaženjem rješenja s najmanjim sveukupnim utjecajem na okoliš.Subject of this thesis is plastic waste management. From energetic point of view, plastic waste is quite valuable feedstock and its final disposal at the landfill presents irreversible damage to the environment. Plastic waste can be energetically recovered by chemical recovery techniques and conventional thermal energy recovery technologies such as incineration. The focus of this paper is on the chemical recovery of plastic waste: pyrolysis and gasification. Products of considered technologies are liquid and gaseous fuels, which can be used for subsequent energy transformations or as input feedstock in the industry. According to EU guidelines and model of circular economy it is necessary to validate the considered technologies with an emphasis on life cycle analysis (LCA). The available LCI databases do not include processes pyrolysis and gasification. Therefore, comprehensive survey of literature was carried out to gather all available data about input and output flows of existing facilities with implemented concerned technologies. Based on collected data, LCI (Life Cycle Inventory) datasets for technologies pyrolysis and gasification were created which encompass all input streams, such as the required electrical energy, fuel and materials, and all outflows that include useful energy and useful products, as well as by-products such as ash, slag and harmful emissions to the environment. Formed LCI sets are entered in the OpenLCA software and integrated into the Ecoinvent database by linking to the available European and local LCI sets from the base. Within this paper, a comparative life cycle analysis of the concerned technologies for energy recovery of plastic waste and commonly used solutions for the disposal of generated plastic waste, such as its thermal treatment in waste incinerators with cogeneration production of electrical and thermal energy, and disposal on regulated waste disposal sites has been carried out. An ecological analysis which involved the impacts of the operation of certain systems was carried out with the aim of better understanding the positive effects and negative environmental consequences that may arise from the commercialization of pyrolysis and gasification technologies compared to the existing waste management technologies and by finding solutions with the least overall impact on the environment

Towards a Fast Evaluation of Environmental Impacts

Full LCA is a well-known methodology which can help decision-makers to select the product or process that results in the least impact to the environment. However performing a Full LCA is resource and time intensive. Therefore different simplified LCA methods are developed in literature. This paper would develop another simplified LCA tool, driven by the extreme ease of use for all the people that don’t know in depth environmental issues or that haven’t time / data to deepen these topics. This tool can be very useful to the designers. They should be evaluate environmental impacts of something doesn’t exist and it can help them to evaluate rapidly the more “green” product