Entry and Exit in a Liberalised Market

We analyse the entry and exit activity in the UK airline markets in the post-liberalisation period and study the differential traits between traditional and low cost carriers. Alongside with the characteristics traditionally highlighted as determinants of entry (e.g., airport presence and network economies), we find that the existence of charter or seasonal operators, product differentiation opportunities and the level of quality provided by the incumbents are also relevant in explaining entry and/or exit. Despite the liberalisation policies, the contestability of important large markets still seems to be limited.

Weakly uniformly rotund Banach spaces

summary:The dual space of a WUR Banach space is weakly K-analytic

Effect of Temperature, Atmosphere and Metals on the Thermal Degradation of Printed Circuit Boards

The permanent expansion of the market of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) and the shorter innovation cycles, lead to a faster replacement of these appliances, making EEE a fast-growing source of waste (WEEE). As stated in Directive 2012/19/EU1 on waste electrical and electronic equipment, the content of hazardous components in EEE is a major concern during the waste management phase, and recycling of WEEE is not currently undertaken to a sufficient extent, resulting in a loss of valuable resources.Support for this work was provided by: Ministry of Education and Science (Spain) (CTQ2008-05520 project); Valencian Community Government (Spain) (PROMETEO/2009/043/FEDER project)

Pirólisis y combustión de residuos electrónicos

Resumen de la comunicación presentada en el I Congreso de Estudiantes de Ingeniería Química de la Universidad de Alicante, 13-14 abril 2010.Los costes de producción cada vez menores y el aumento de la disponibilidad de equipos electrónicos de todo tipo, incluyendo teléfonos móviles, equipos de audio y vídeo y ordenadores personales, así como sus accesorios, unido a los avances en tecnología que hacen que estos productos queden rápidamente obsoletos, supone un problema de creciente importancia. A este respecto, la Directiva 2002/96/CE del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo de 27 de enero de 2003 sobre residuos de aparatos eléctricos y electrónicos (RAEE) regula la gestión y eliminación de estos residuos por separado, promoviendo su reutilización, reciclado y recuperación.Las ayudas para la realización de este trabajo proceden de los proyectos CTQ2008-05520 de Ministerio de Educación, Prometeo/2009/043 y ACOM2009/135 de la Generalitat Valenciana

Kinetics of pyrolysis and combustion of pine needles and cones

A wide kinetic study has been carried out under different conditions in TG and TG–MS for each material, at different operating conditions. Runs were carried out at three different atmospheres: N2, N2:O2 4:1 and N2:O2 9:1. In addition to the dynamic runs carried out at constant heating rate, other runs were performed in an isothermal regime (constant heating rate until the set temperature is reached and then the set temperature is maintained constant). In addition, a study of the thermal decomposition for both materials was also carried out in a dynamic run using TG–MS in order to observe the evolution of the major compounds and to discuss the information that could be obtained. From the overall analysis of the data, schemes of reactions and kinetic values were calculated by integration of the differential equations and minimizing the squared differences between the experimental and calculated values. It is important to emphasise that the same set of parameters is proposed for the runs for each material, and depends on neither the heating rate in dynamic runs nor whether the run is carried out in a dynamic or isothermal mode.Support for this work was provided by Spanish MEC, research project CTQ2005-05262

Thermogravimetric Study of the Decomposition of Printed Circuit Boards from Mobile Phones

Paper submitted to the 19th International Symposium on Analytical & Applied Pyrolysis, Linz, Austria, 21-25 May 2012.Printed circuit boards (PCB) are particularly problematic to recycle because of the heterogeneous mix of organic material, metals, and glass fibre. More specifically, the presence of Fe and Cu can catalyze the debromination/hydrogenation reaction, accelerating the formation of chlorinated and brominated dioxins and furans.Ministry of Education and Science (Spain): CTQ2008-05520; Valencian Community Government (Spain): PROMETEO/2009/043/FEDER and ACOMP2011/224

Emissions from the Pyrolysis and Combustion of Different Wastes

Paper submitted to the 7th International Symposium on Feedstock Recycling of Polymeric Materials (7th ISFR 2013), New Delhi, India, 23-26 October 2013.A comparison between different emission rates of various pollutants obtained from various wastes is presented. The studied wastes were the following: polyethylene, tyres, sewage sludge, polyvinyl chloride, cotton textiles, polyester textiles, meat and bone meals, varnish wastes, olive oil solid waste (pomace), waste lube oils, paper waste, tomato plant, pine needles and cones, mobile phones and automotive shredder residue. The decomposition of these wastes was studied in a horizontal laboratory scale reactor at 850 ºC in an inert and an oxidizing atmosphere, and the analysis of the pollutants evolved comprised several compounds such as light hydrocarbons, PAHs and PCDD/Fs.Ministry of Education and Science (Spain) (CTQ2008-05520 project) and Valencian Community Government (Spain) (PROMETEO/2009/043/FEDER project)

Análisis de los contaminantes generados en la descomposición térmica de un retardante de llama bromado: tetrabromobisfenol A

Comunicación presentada en la III Reunión Nacional sobre Dioxinas, Furanos y Compuestos Orgánicos Persistentes Relacionados, Santander, 30 junio-1 julio 2011.Los retardantes de llama son compuestos que se añaden a un gran número de materiales con el objeto de reducir el riesgo de incendio. La industria electrónica supone el principal consumidor de retardantes de llama bromados, siendo el tetrabromobisfenol A (TBBPA) el retardante de llama empleado en las placas de circuitos impresos y laminados y en las carcasas de plásticos, especialmente de ABS.Generalitat Valenciana: PROMETEO/2009/043/FEDER y ACOMP2010/075; Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia: CTQ2008-05520

Pollutant emissions during pyrolysis and combustion of waste printed circuit boards, before and after metal removal

The constant increase in the production of electronic devices implies the need for an appropriate management of a growing number of waste electrical and electronic equipment. Thermal treatments represent an interesting alternative to recycle this kind of waste, but particular attention has to be paid to the potential emissions of toxic by-products. In this study, the emissions from thermal degradation of printed circuit boards (with and without metals) have been studied using a laboratory scale reactor, under oxidizing and inert atmosphere at 600 and 850 °C. Apart from carbon oxides, HBr was the main decomposition product, followed by high amounts of methane, ethylene, propylene, phenol and benzene. The maximum formation of PAHs was found in pyrolysis at 850 °C, naphthalene being the most abundant. High levels of 2-, 4-, 2,4-, 2,6- and 2,4,6-bromophenols were found, especially at 600 °C. Emissions of PCDD/Fs and dioxin-like PCBs were quite low and much lower than that of PBDD/Fs, due to the higher bromine content of the samples. Combustion at 600 °C was the run with the highest PBDD/F formation: the total content of eleven 2,3,7,8-substituted congeners (tetra- through heptaBDD/Fs) was 7240 and 3250 ng WHO2005-TEQ/kg sample, corresponding to the sample with and without metals, respectively.Support for this work was provided by the CTQ2013-41006 project from the Ministry of Education and Science (Spain) and the PROMETEO/2009/043/FEDER project from the Valencian Community Government (Spain)

Heavy metals, PAHs and POPs in recycled polyethylene samples of agricultural, post-commercial, post-industrial and post-consumer origin

In the present work, recycled polyethylene (LDPE) samples of agricultural, post-commercial, post-industrial and post-consumer origin were selected and analysed. The analysis comprised the determination of different contaminants such as metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dioxin-like biphenyl polychlorides (PCBs), and polychlorinated-dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs). A comparison with one sample of virgin plastic (unrecycled) was performed. The study aimed at stressing the importance of this type of analysis in recycled plastics. Indeed, such an examination will determine the material’s final destination, and the possible origin of the pollutants analysed is investigated. Black post-industrial and post-consumer samples presented the highest concentration of PCBs and PCDD/Fs, attaining a maximum value of 2.40 pg WHO-TEQ/g, while the least toxic sample (post-commercial) presented a toxicity of 0.38 pg WHO-TEQ/g. PAHs content was also much higher in black samples, reaching 514.41 ng/g, while the lowest concentrations were obtained for the post-commercial plastic sample, which did not exceed 38.98 ng/g. The higher PAHs concentrations in the black samples were related to the carbon black content of the black samples, which was 2.00% for black post-industrial sample and 1.51% for post-consumer sample. The PCDD/Fs congener profile observed in almost all samples was very similar to the profile found in the literature on urban air samples, indicating that the plastic is mainly influenced by the environment. The presence of some metals (mainly copper) showed a slight correlation with PCDD/Fs content. The pollutants analysed were found to be significantly reduced during the cleaning processes that are generally carried out in recycling companies.This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (Spain) [grant number PID2019-105359RB-I00], and by the University of Alicante [grant number UAUSTI21-03]