Economic and Environmental Impact Assessment of Renewable Energy from Biomass

For a holistic evaluation of sustainability, the economic and environmental aspects should be considered jointly to avoid trade-os between the two dimensions. In this manuscript, the themes addressed, and the approaches used in this Special Issue \u201cEconomic and Environmental Impact Assessment of Renewable Energy from Biomass\u201d to investigate the sustainability are summarized. Different approaches such as Energy Analysis, Life Cycle Assessment, technical and economic evaluation of key processes are applied to dierent renewable energy pathways (biogas, wood biomass, by-product valorization, etc.). The dierent manuscripts accepted in this Special Issue increases our comprehension and understanding of the relation between economic and environmental performances of renewable energy from biomass

Exploring the production of bio-energy from wood biomass. Italian case study

This is the accepted manuscript of the following article: González-García, S., Bacenetti, J., 2019. Exploring the production of bio-energy from wood biomass. Italian case study. Science of the Total Environment 647, 158–168The concerns related to the environmental impact related to energy production fromfossil fuel are increasing. In this context, the substitution of fossil fuel based energy by bio-energy can be an effective solution. In this study, the production of electricity and heat in Italy in a combined heat and power plant (CHP) based on an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) turbine from wood based biomass both from forest and agricultural activities has been analysed considering four potential alternative scenarios to the current energy status: biomass from very short rotation forestry (VSRF) poplar and willow stands as well as residues from natural forests and from traditional poplar plantations. The evaluation has been performed by applying Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method and an attributional cradle-to-gate approach has been followed. The expected savings of greenhouse gases emission and fossil fuels demand have been quantified, aswell as derived emissions of toxic pollutants and substances responsible for acidification, eutrophication and photochemical oxidant formation.The results have been also compared with the conventional Italian scenario considering the current Italian electricity profile and heat production from natural gas. Among the different scenarios, due to the lower transport distance, the use of biomass from traditional poplar plantation residues shows the lowest impact. The biomass combustion emissions are the main hotspot for several evaluated impact categories (e.g., particulatematter formation, human toxicity). In fact, when the produced bio-energy is compared to the reference system (i.e., electricity produced under the Italian electric profile) the results do not favor bio-energy systems. The results reported in this study support the idea that forest residues would be an interesting and potential feedstock for bio-energy purposes although further research is required specifically with the aim of optimizing biomass supply distancesThis research has been partially supported by a project granted by Xunta deGalicia (project ref. ED431F 2016/001) and by the STAR-ProBio project funded by the European Union'sHorizon 2020 Programresearch and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 727740. S.G-G. would like to express their gratitude to the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness for financial support (Grant reference RYC-2014-14984). S.G-G. belongs to the Galician Competitive Research Group GRC 2013-032 and to CRETUS Strategic Partnership (AGRUP2015/02). All these programmes are co-funded by Xunta de Galicia and FEDER (EU). Authors give thanks to the European Commission, through the Erasmus + Call 2017-KA1-Mobility of staff in higher education-Staff mobility for teaching and training activitiesS

Earthworm as an alternative protein source in poultry and fish farming : Current applications and future perspectives

Among the different agricultural activities, the livestock is one of the most impacting on the environment. The feeding of animals is often the main responsible of the adverse environmental impact related to animal productions. Above all for intensive production, the consumption of protein feed is a key aspect for the achievement of sustainable production processes. The actual consumption of soybean meal and fish meal is not sustainable due to the related environmental impact and to the increasing prices. Among the different alternative protein sources, in the last 20 years, the attention of research centres and private companies focused on insects, algae and other invertebrates but, up to now, little consideration was paid to the use of fresh earthworm or earthworm meal as a protein feed for monogastric animals. The use of earthworms as an alternative protein source for fish and poultry feeding is an opportunity for providing environmental services via cleaner technologies. Thanks to earthworms, organic wastes and by-products generated by livestock activities can be valorised and become a resource for animal feeding in a circular perspective. In this context, this manuscript was designed to summarize the productivity, suitability and effectiveness issues connected with the utilization of earthworms as alternative protein feed in poultry production as well as in aquaculture. The studies investigating the earthworm meal use are quite old above all those carried out in Europe; however, some general indications can be drawn: both for broiler and fish, the parameters usually evaluated are body weight gain, growth rate, feed intake and feed conversion rate, the acceptability level of earthworm meal in broiler diet is lower than 15% while in trout diet ranges between 25 and 30%. The inclusion of earthworm meal in diets with an inclusion level lower than the acceptability threshold allows good productive performances without affecting the quality of the final food products

Measurements techniques and models to assess odor annoyance: A review

Odors have received increasing attention among atmospheric pollutants. Indeed, odor emissions are a common source of complaints, affecting the quality of life of humans and animals. The odor is a property of a mixture of different volatile chemical species (sulfur, nitrogen, and volatile organic compounds) capable of stimulating the olfaction sense sufficiently to trigger a sensation of odor. The impact of odors on the surrounding areas depends on different factors, such as the amount of odors emitted from the site, the distance from the site, weather conditions, topography, other than odors sensitivity and tolerance of the neighborhood. Due to the complexity of the odor issue, the aim of this review was to give an overview of: (i) techniques (sensorial and analytical) that can be used to determine a quantitative and qualitative characterization; (ii) air dispersion models applied for the evaluation of the spatial and temporal distribution of atmospheric pollutants in terms of concentration in air and/or deposition in the studied domain; (iii) major sources of odor nuisance (waste and livestock); (iv) mitigation actions against odor impact. Among sensorial techniques dynamic olfactometry, field inspection, and recording from residents were considered; whereas, for analytical methodologies: gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, identification of specific compounds, and electronic nose. Both kinds of techniques evaluate the odor concentration. Instead, to account for the effective impact of odors on the population, air dispersion models are used. They can provide estimates of odor levels in both current and future emission scenarios. Moreover, they can be useful to estimate the efficiency of mitigation strategies. Most of the odor control strategies involve measures oriented to prevent, control dispersion, minimize the nuisance or remove the odorants from emissions, such as adequate process design, buffer zones, odor covers, and treatment technologies

UNDERSTANDING LATE-STAGE EXHUMATION USING AN INTEGRATED MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH: A CASE STUDY IN THE INNER COTTIAN ALPS (NW ITALY)

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Se il turno \ue8 lungo

Un\u2019efficiente meccanizzazione delle operazioni di campo del pioppo da biomassa \ue8 un presupposto fondamentale per poter ottenere adeguati risultati economici da questa coltura. Per il trapianto degli astoni nella SRF quinquennale non sono ancora disponibili sul mercato macchine operatrici specifiche. In questo contributo \ue8 presentato il caso dell\u2019interessante prototipo R-innova 500P, appositamente sviluppato allo scopo

Filiere agro-energetiche a confronto: bilancio economico, energetico e ambientale

Considerando l'instabilit\ue0 del prezzo del petrolio, anche nei prossimi anni, le biomasse di origine agricola continueranno ad essere un'importnate risorsa per ridurre l'impatto ambientale connesso ai consumi energetici e una vlaida alternativa per diversificare le fonti di approvvigionamento, riducendo la dipendenza dai combustibili fossili. Perci\uf2 risutla cruciale valutare correttamente la sostenibilit\ue0, oltre che economica, energetica ed ambientale di tutte le filiere agro-energetiche. A tal fine, negli utlimi anni, sono stati sviluppati alcuni software specifici, che, oltre a non considerare tutte le filiere, esaminano solo le loro fasi pi\uf9 importanti. Il pi\uf9 delle volte, inoltre, tali strumenti si dimostrano poco flessibili, rendendo difficoltosa la valutazione di filiere diverse da quelle per cui sono stati pensati. Alla luce di ci\uf2 \ue8 stato sviluppato un nuovo modello di calcolo in grado sia di simulare diversi scenari, sia di fornire indicazioni omogenee sulla sostenibilit\ue0 econmica, energetica ed ambientale delle filiere agro-energetiche pi\uf9 diffuse nel nostro Paese. L'utente dopo aver individuato la filiera che intende analizzare, i suoi "confini", ed averne definito la sequenza operativa provvede all'inserimento dei parametri di calcolo (investimenti, dosi, costi unitari, ecc.) e alla definizione delle tecnologie di trasformazione. Il programma facendo riferimento alle metodologie di analisi correntemente in uso e a opportuni coefficienti, calcola i bilanci output/input (economico, energetico e ambientale). Tra i risultati forniti, oltre a individuare il cantiere di lavoro pi\uf9 razionale, vengono calcolati la spesa energetica per unit\ue0 di "prodotto energetico" di filiera e il relativo rapporto output/input (EROEI). Pertanto, il software si presenta come uno strumento in grado di fornire indicazioni sulla sostenibilit\ue0 attuale delle filiere agro-energetiche ma anche come un supporto decisionale multi-obiettivo di medio-lungo periodo