Cross-overs in de kringlooplandbouw: Glastuinbouw & Aquacultuur : whitepaper

Boedijn, A.T., Kals, J. en Appelman, W. Peer Reviewers: Van Os, E., Raaphorst, M. en Kuipers, N., november 2022

Emission factors for heavy metals from diesel and petrol used in European vehicles

Abstract: Heavy metals constitute an important group of persistent toxic pollutants occurring in ambient air and other media. One of the suspected sources of these metals in the atmosphere is combustion of transport fuels in road vehicles. However estimates of the emissions of these metals from road vehicles as reported in national emission inventories show a very high variability in emission factors used. This paper provides high quality data on concentrations of heavy metals in fuels and derives default emission factors from these. The paper discusses these values against the emission estimates presently reported by the Parties to the LRTAP Convention. The measured concentrations of heavy metals in petrol and diesel fuel show a high variability between different samples taken at gas stations throughout Europe. Metal concentrations in road transport fuels vary over two orders of magnitude, but all remain in the ppb region (a few tenths of a ppb to a few hundred ppb for all metals). The frequency distributions of the measurements could be approximated by lognormal distributions. We could not detect a significant difference between samples from different countries. The fuel based emission factors as derived in this study are compared with those related to lubricant use as published by Winther and Slentø (2010). For most HMs studied here, this would lead to an two to fourfold increase of the tailpipe emissions as derived from the fuel concentrations. The emission factors, including 95 percent confidence intervals were derived from a statistical analysis of the survey data. The proposed emission factors were generally lower than previously published emission factors. National emissions of heavy metals from vehicle exhaust, estimated in this study therefore are in many cases considerably lower than those reported by the countries for this source

Application of water disinfection technologies for agricultural waters

Irrigation water is a potential source of contamination of leafy vegetables that are grown in the field. There is an urgent need to support technologies that are designed to ensure food safety, including those technologies that can disinfect irrigation water used to cultivate crops. Previous research has yet to evaluate the microbial and economic efficacies of water disinfection technologies to be applied during primary production to combat foodborne pathogens. The literature describes potential water disinfection technologies that could be applied, but studies often focus on plant pathogens and mainly focus on laboratory-scale research. In this study, ozone, UV, and membrane filtration were evaluated at the lab-scale, and UV with and without pre-filtration were examined in a field trial to determine the reduction of E. coli in surface water that is used to irrigate leafy vegetables. The cost-effectiveness and applications at the field-scale were also considered. We determined that UV treatment (300–600 J/m2) reduced E. coli up to 3 log in irrigation water. In the lab, we found that ozone, UF, and combined disinfection technologies reduced E. coli up to 4 log. The cost calculation for UV disinfection (0.09 €/m3) showed to be less than that of ozone (0.36 €/m3) and UF (0.43 €/m3). Overall, UV was found to be the most feasible disinfection technology in terms of microbial and cost efficacies to treat surface water used for the agricultural irrigation of crops. The outcomes of this research can provide input into the minimum requirements needed for water disinfection technologies considering the use and reuse of agricultural waters

The effectiveness of ozone, ultrafiltration, and low pH on Escherichia coli inactivation in fresh-cut endive process wash water at a pilot setting

During the processing of fresh-cut produce, any pathogenic contamination that could occur must be prevented so that uncontaminated produce does not become contaminated via the washing water(cross-contamination). Thus, there is a need to disinfect water during processing.This study evaluated three disinfection technologies – ozone, ultrafiltration (UF), and lowering the pH to 4.0 using processing aid T128 – when used singly during fresh-cut endive washing. The goal was to investigate the effect of these technologies on the reduction of Escherichia coli in the process wash water (PWW) and identify potentials for saving water and energy on an industrial washing line. The study focused on disinfecting the PWW of fresh-cut endive, with the first two technologies applied in a bypass and the third directly in the wash tank. The study provided the first proof of application for three different water disinfection technologies during pilot-scale fresh-cut endive washing. The main conclusions were that no E.coli reduction was found in the PWW during the experiments with ozone, UF or T128. Water and energy could be saved, although these savings were in the same order of magnitude as the technology costs. Furthermore, the pilot experiments allowed us to compare microbial and chemical aspects in the PWW and on the endive. This showed that although some chemical hazards like cadmium, lead, and nitrate accumulated over time, the final levels after two hours of recycling did not lead to an exceedance of legal limits in the PWW and endive. Future research should examine a modified bypass setup to allow treatment of higher water volumes. Especially ozone appeared interesting given that it is a more economical application than UF. The dosing needs to be adjusted, as the primary limitation was the insufficient dose applied. A possible combination of ozone and another technique, like UV, may be of interest to further research to achieve a higher log reduction

Goed Gietwater Werkpakket 3, taak 2 Industrieelonderzoek naar waterkringloopsluiting in opkweekbedrijven

Efficiënt omgaan met water speelt voor biologische en niet-biologische opkweekbedrijven van plantmateriaal een steeds grotere rol. Toenemende en strengere eisen met betrekking tot lozing van water en de emissie van nutriënten en gewasbeschermingsmiddelen naar het oppervlaktewater vragen nieuwe maatregelen. Overheden en de glastuinbouwsector hebben als doelstelling om de emissies van de glastuinbouwsector via het waterspoor in 2027 nagenoeg tot nul te reduceren waarbij er in 2018 al maatregelen moeten worden genomen met betrekking tot gewasbeschermingsmiddelen. Het doel van het Goed Gietwater project is om middels industrieel onderzoek te komen tot een vergaande waterkringloopsluiting in de opkweeksector. Met een geoptimaliseerd watermanagement en behandeling van het overtollige gietwater kunnen water en nutriënten worden teruggewonnen en emissies van nutriënten en gewasbeschermingsmiddelen naar het oppervlaktewater worden voorkomen

Nature-Based Solutions as Building Blocks for the Transition towards Sustainable Climate-Resilient Food Systems

Food systems—encompassing food production, transportation, processing and consumption, including food losses and waste—are currently not delivering what is expected or needed to ensure their full contribution to societal well-being and ecological sustainability. In this paper, we hypothesize that nature-based solutions (NBS; solutions that are inspired by, supported by, or copied from nature) can overcome system challenges related to the functioning of the biosphere, society, or economy (including governance arrangements), and support a transition to sustainable climate-resilient food systems. We develop a conceptual framework to assess NBS contributions to such transitions. Three types of NBS are evaluated: intrinsic NBS which make use of existing ecosystems; hybrid NBS which manage and adapt ecosystems; and inspired NBS which consist of newly constructed ecosystems. We show that inspired NBS in particular will increase opportunities to achieve sustainable development in food systems. NBS can facilitate the much-needed transition to a different way of using our natural resources to reach the SDGs by 2030. We identify the knowledge gaps that impede the development of NBS to support a transition towards sustainable, climate-resilient food systems