New water-based copolymer nanoparticles and their use as eco-friendly binders for industry of flexographic ink, part I

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to prepare, characterise and evaluate nano-emulsions of copolymers of various compositions as eco-friendly binders for flexographic ink industry. Design/methodology/approach: Various nano-emulsions of copolymers were prepared using styrene (St), butyl acrylate (BuAc), acrylic acid (AA) and acrylamide (AAm) monomers by means of a conventional seeded emulsion polymerisation technique, using K2S2O8 as the initiator. The characterisation of the prepared emulsions was performed using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A selection of copolymers was formulated with pigments and additional ingredients, as water-based flexographic inks. The inks were characterised for their viscosity, pH, degree of dispersion, water resistance and colour density. Findings: It was found that the low viscosity of the prepared copolymers may reduce the film thickness of the flexographic inks and may also increase the spreading of the ink on the surface. As a result, stable modified polyacrylate-based latex with improved physico-mechanical properties were obtained. The prepared latexes were showed improving and enhancing in water resistance; gloss values, and the print density that ranged from 2.06 to 2.51 and the maximum gloss values (39 and 48) were also obtained. Also, these binders provide excellent adhesion properties for both the pigment particles and the base paper. Practical implications: This study focuses on the preparation of new water-based copolymer nanoparticles and their use as eco-friendly binders for flexographic ink industry. Social implications: The ink formulations developed could find use in industrial-scale printing. Originality/value: Eco-friendly environment ink formulations for printing on paper substrates are novel

How big is the bioeconomy?

The critical role of the Circular Bioeconomy in the sustainable transition has been widely recognised, to the point that a number of countries worldwide have elaborated their bioeconomy strategies and others are in the process of framing their own. The purpose of this report is to advance more objective and rigorous measurement and analysis of the bioeconomy according to the broad definition of the European Commission in 2018. Our focus is mainly on the economic indicators, aiming at the inclusion of bio-based services derived from the symmetric input-output tables from the system of national accounts available from Eurostat and additional expert information. As the main conclusion of the report, we propose a synthesis of input- and output-based approaches. This is motivated by the fact that determining the bio-based weights according to the input-output tables implicitly assumes that the bio-based share of outputs is the same as that of inputs. Clearly, this is not the case for the primary bio-based production sectors – agriculture, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture. Where the outputs are completely bio-based for these sectors, the inputs are far from being 100% bio-based. On the other hand, relying exclusively on the bio-based content of the output would ignore the use of bio-based inputs in the production process. To take into account the bio-based content in both inputs and outputs, we propose to consider weighted averages for the industries. Before applying the new methodology, adjustments are performed with regard to the value added of the bioeconomy by adding the net subsidies, the bio-based shares of the wholesale and retail trade industries, the water supply, sewerage and recycling, as well as the sports and recreation sectors. Applying the methodology with the adjustments proposed, our estimate for the EU-28 bioeconomy in 2015 reaches €1,460.6 billion value added, which is 11% of the GDP. The nova-JRC methodology, used in many bioeconomy publications, calculates €621 billion value added for the same year. This difference is mainly explained by the contribution of €872 billion by the tertiary bioeconomy sectors in the proposed methodology. This novel methodology addresses different challenges for measuring the size of the bioeconomy and eventually providing a basis for evaluating its contribution for a sustainable transition. The approach allows for yearly updates following the calendar of Eurostat I-O tables, probably with a 3 to 4 years delay. It relies on a thorough estimation of the bio-based shares of the inputs and outputs of the various sectors. The authors believe that these are fundamental elements to ensure that “The next era of industry will be one where the physical, digital and biological worlds are coming together” (European Commission 2020a). Taking account of the diversity of EU’s bioeconomies and sectors, this report broadens the ongoing discussion on how to measure and determine the contribution of the bioeconomy to a sustainable and circular economy.JRC.D.4-Economics of Agricultur

The food system in the wider bioeconomy: the BioSAM perspective : an economic impact analysis for EU Member States

The Bioeconomy emerges as an opportunity towards more economic, social and environmental sustainability, becoming a priority for many countries, including the European Union and its Member States. According to the definition in the European Union strategy, the Bioeconomy includes all sectors of the economy that are based on the use of renewable biological resources to produce value added products such as food, feed, energy, and bio-based products (European Commission, 2012). Due to the importance of promoting the Bioeconomy, it is necessary to analyse the impact of the sectors directly involved. However, the lack of available data is one of the main obstacles for monitoring its progress. As a response to this problem, the Bioeconomy Social Accounting Matrix (BioSAM) database has been developed for the EU Member States (Mainar-Causapé 2021). The purpose of this report is to present an overview of the European Union bio-based products and industries. Our focus is mainly on the analysis of the impacts of final demand variation on value added and employment by sectoral level disaggregation. By using the BioSAM database it is possible to deepen the impact analysis by considering a detailed disaggregation of bio-based products. A country cluster analysis focusing on food system sectors is also introduced. In addition, the results are presented in a dashboard to allow the replication and comparison of different impacts by sector and country.Publishe

Assessing the Bioeconomy's Contribution to Evidence-Based Policy: A Comparative Analysis of Value Added Measurements

As the bioeconomy has gained importance in European policy agendas, several European research institutes have elaborated ad hoc methodologies to measure the size of the European bioeconomy and aid in the monitoring of its performance. This paper reviews the main approaches found in the literature for such a quantification by comparing the different methodologies and the corresponding quantitative findings. The various estimations published might be confusing at first sight, reporting a value added of the European bioeconomy within the large range of EUR 881 billion to EUR 2.3 trillion. However, the study concludes that each approach is best suited to measuring a different aspect of the bioeconomy. Using the different approaches, we estimate that the markets of bio-based products and energy generate EUR 730-790 billion of value added, the use of biomass within the European economy generates EUR 670 billion of value added, and the sourcing of core bioeconomy industries with goods and services generates EUR 270 billion of value added. There is no evidence of an increased use of biomass inputs in EU industries in substitution of fossil resources, nor of a decreasing dependence of traditional bioeconomy industries towards fossil resources over the period 2005-2015.Bioeconomyvalue addedEuropeinput-output tablesbio-based industriesmethodologiesPublishe

Capturing the Moment (and the White Board): Enhancing Whiteboard Use for Language Classes

Arabic classes at Macalester are writing intensive. Handouts and even a textbook cannot take the place of improvisation when needed. New information that students need to retain can be written on the board, but transcribing it is time consuming. Wessam El-Meligi and Fritz Vandover collaborated to find and implement the eBeam Smartmarker for Arabic elementary and intermediate classes, helping strike the balance between preserving class time and spontaneously writing new material on the board. Fritz and Wessam would like to share their experience using this device and discuss its potential for other classes, especially writing intensive language classes. Our presentation is available as a Google Slides presentation

Biopulping and Biobleaching by White Rot Fungi

376-381The potentials of white-rot fungi namely Coriouls versicolor NRRL 6102, Phanerochaete chrysosporium  NRRL 6359, P. chrysosporium  NRRL 6361 and P. chrysosporium NRRL 6370 are evaluated for brightness of banana waste. The banana fruit stalk is used as a sale carbon source under sterilized solid state fermentation (SSF) at 35°C for one month. Of these, P. chrysosporium  NRRL 6370 cultured supported maximum brightness (30.5 per cent than under control 117.8 per cent). This fungus degrades lignin and hemicellulose with does not effect on cellulose fibres (55.4 per cent than under control 40.01 per cent). The three useful types of paper are prepared from biopuling banana fruit stalk. The two types of them are bleached by hydrogen peroxide (writing and printing 40 SoR and greasy paper 80-82 SoR). While the board is prepared from unbleached biopulping in 25 SoR. The strength properties of biopulping increases from 15-20 per cent for the hand-made sheet. Also the brightness is higher,. i.e., > 20 per cent than under control. Results show that biopulping controls yield and avoids losses in viscosity and strength properties

CO2 emissions and value added change. Assessing the trade-off through the Macro Multiplier approach

Recently, political and scientific debate is strongly focused on issues questioning the economic sustainability of environmental policies at regional level. Following European directives and protocols and in accordance with the principles of sustainable development, the interventions designed by policy makers are required to aim at restructuring the final demand’s composition so that it achieves a reduction of the CO_2 emissions. In this paper an effort is made to assess a new structure for the final demand which would be able to achieve a composite task: the economic sustainability and the environmental improvement. In this respect, the regional Social Accounting Matrix (SAM), referred to a typical region of the Mediterranean area, the Sardinia, will be integrated with the environmental accounting scheme in order to develop the regional multisectoral extended model. The resulting inverse matrix will be used to identify which composition of the final demand (policy control variable) is consistent with the complex target of reducing the CO_2 emissions together with a positive variation of the aggregate total output (policy target variable). For this purpose the Macro Multipliers approach, through the use of a bidimensional decision-making index, will allow us to identify the convenient structures for both economic and environmental target and assessing the expected negative trade-off