Energy valorization of poultry manure in a thermal power plant: experimental campaign

Abstract According with EU Directives, waste management is a major task with respect to the industrial productive cycles. Getting energy from residues can be possible by means of several technologies, to be chosen as a function of the waste main properties. The present paper will present an example of energetic valorization of poultry manure in an innovative gasification thermal power plant (300 kWt). Such experience has been developed by CRB (Biomass Research Center – University of Perugia) during the implementation of a national funded research project. Physical and chemical characterization of the litter will be shown, together with both the monitoring of the demo plant performances and the relevant features of the exhaust gases at the chimney

The Multifunctional Environmental Energy Tower: Carbon Footprint and Land Use Analysis of an Integrated Renewable Energy Plant

The Multifunctional Environmental Energy Tower (MEET) is a single, vertical, stand-alone renewable energy plant designed to decrease the primary energy consumption from fossil fuels, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to maximize the energy production from renewable sources available in place and to minimize land use. A feasibility case study was performed for the city of Rome, Italy. Several technologies are exploited and integrated in a single system, including a photovoltaic plant, a geothermal plant and a biomass digester for urban organic waste and sewage sludge. In the proposed configuration, the MEET could cover more than 11% of the electric power demand and up to 3% of the space heating demand of the surrounding urban area. An LCA analysis evaluates the environmental impact in a cradle-to-grave approach for two impact categories: global warming (carbon footprint) and land use (land occupation and land transformation). The functional unit is a mix of electric (49.1%) and thermal (50.9%) energy (kWhmix). The carbon footprint is 48.70 g CO2eq/kWhmix; the land transformation is 4.058 m2/GWhmix; and the land occupation is 969.3 m2y/GWhmix. With respect to other energy production technologies, the carbon footprint is lower and similar to the best-performing ones (e.g., co-generation from wood chips); both of the land use indicators are considerably smaller than the least-impacting technologies. A systematic study was finally performed, and possible optimizations of the original design are proposed. Thanks to the modular design, the conceptual idea can be easily applied to other urban and non-urban scenarios

Implementazione di una metodologia per il calcolo della Carbon Footprint nel settore vitivinicolo umbro

Come in molti settori produttivi, anche nel settore vitivinicolo sta crescendo sempre più la consapevolezza dell’importante ruolo giocato dalla qualificazione e differenziazione dei prodotti dal punto di vista dell’impatto ambientale, visto che i consumatori si dimostrano sempre più vicini ed attenti a tali problematiche. A tale proposito, la Carbon Footprint è l’indicatore ampiamente riconosciuto e ormai più diffuso, dal momento che consente di riassumere le performance ambientali di processi/prodotti/attività in un unico dato facilmente comunicabile anche ad un pubblico non tecnico. Il progetto Umbria Wine 2020, finanziato nell’ambito del Programma di Sviluppo Rurale per l’Umbria 2007/201, si inserisce in questo contesto al fine di definire una metodologia standardizzata per il calcolo della Carbon Footprint di una bottiglia di vino. Il lavoro si propone di illustrare le scelte metodologiche alla base di una raccolta dati sistematica e completa (check-list) ai fini del calcolo, in accordo alla recente normativa ISO/TS 14067 in materia di Carbon Footprint di prodotto. Sono inoltre presentati i primi risultati relativi alla raccolta dati di una delle quattro cantine umbre coinvolte nel progetto, che producono vini doc con varie denominazioni, rappresentative dell’enologia regionale