Pramonės poveikio klimato kaitai mažinimas, diegiant švaresnės gamybos projektus

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Industrial ecology for optimal food waste management in a region

Despite numerous discussions between scholars and policymakers, food waste (FW) remains a great concern. European Union alone discards 88 million tons of edible food annually, and when energy, inputs from technosphere and nature, labour, waste management of edible as well as inedible parts are assessed, it amounts to significant environmental and economic impacts. Additionally, food waste is considered a social problem and a matter of food security. Since food waste is a problem of the whole foodstuff supply chain, a holistic approach for its management must be taken. For this reason, an industrial ecology (IE) concept can provide a systemic approach that might be an interesting solution for tackling issues associated with such a biogenic food waste stream. The application of IE brings novelty to the research, because the IE approach is typically used for heavy industry that is concentrated in close proximity. The idea behind the IE approach is to prevent as much food waste as possible, then exploit homogenous sub-products for value added product (either food product or not), and, eventually, to obtain energy (or value added products) via fermentation and produce organic fertilizers of a great agronomical value. The results of investigation showed that numerous prevention and technological solutions can be applied to reduce environmental impact, and when available practises are coupled with IE elements, it brings the management approach close to natural ones. The key IE elements in the model are dematerialization and industrial symbiosis; however, other elements, such as restructuration of energy systems and policy alignment, are also present. As a result of the model application, an economically sound, zero food waste management could be obtained in a region

Industrial Symbiosis for Optimal Bio-Waste Management and Production of a Higher Value-Added Product

A considerable amount of food waste ends up in centralized treatment plants due to the lack of preventive measures, resulting in significant environmental impacts. Hospitality food waste management is even more resource-intensive because of animal by-products regulation. According to this regulation, companies must store and then consign waste to specific waste managers. The extensive need for transportation of high-moisture-content materials is the leading cause of the impact. Moreover, the management of category III animal by-products is costly for companies. A previous study has shown the economic benefits of decentralized animal by-product treatment by intensive composting in catering companies. Although the produced compost was characterized by exceptional quality parameters, it was phytotoxic. The investigation of hospitality waste management is scarcely discussed among scholars, and waste management on a regional scale is nearly absent. This study examines the regional management of hospitality food waste by exploiting the municipal waste management infrastructure and intensive composting at the source. The co-maturation experiment with animal by-products and municipal green waste primary composts showed that the phytotoxicity parameters of the cured compost were in the optimal range or below the thresholds (conductivity (1.1 mS cm−1), dissolved organic carbon (82 mg kg−1), and NH4+/NO3− ratio (0.0027)). Additionally, the amounts of total nitrogen, water-soluble nitrogen, and water-soluble phosphorus in the compost were rated as very high. Finally, inventory and environmental impact analysis of the current and planned management approaches showed a reduction in 12 of 18 impact categories

Combine harvester fuel consumption and air pollution reduction

Article no. 95Agricultural production has a major impact on the environment. Indeed, the emissions from agricultural machinery have a significantly negative impact on ambient air, thereby contributing to Climate Change. This study analyses combine harvesters and justifies their optimization in order to increase resource efficiency as well as reduce any negative impact on the environment. Data from 90 combine harvesters in Lithuania and Latvia from 2016 to 2018 is collected using telematics, and the parameters that directly influence engine exhaust emissions are analyzed, such as operation time, grain unloading method, fuel consumption, and auto-steering, according to the engineoperating modes of harvesting, transportation, and idling. Statistically reliable strong correlations can be found between harvesting time and idling time, as well as between fuel consumption during harvesting and idling modes. On average, roughly 20% of the operating time consists of idling and roughly 15% of transportation; moreover, roughly 14% of the diesel fuel is used per year in the aforementioned engine modes. In addition, the autosteering function enables the efficient use of diesel fuel (average cost per combine harvester is reduced by 0.2 t year−1 ), thereby reducing air pollution (pollution per combine harvester is reduced on average by 0.6 t year−1 ). The results suggest telematics system data can be effectively used for data analysis, problem identification, and decision-making with respect to pollution prevention and optimizing combine harvester operationKauno technologijos universitetasVytauto Didžiojo universitetasŽemės ūkio akademij