Utilization of industrial waste for value-added permanent sequestration of CO2

Mineral carbonation allows to permanently store CO2 into materials rich in metal oxides. However, mineralization technologies still suffer of slow reaction rates and low carbonation efficiencies and, to improve them, there has been increasing interest in employing waste streams as feedstocks. In light of this, the aim of this thesis was to determine the potential use of wastes for permanent sequestration of CO2. It was found that waste streams available for mineral carbonation in the UK have a capture potential of 1Mt/year, and in many cases, waste resources are located close to the CO2 emitters. A novel closed-loop, multi-step mineralization process was developed. The process consists of extracting calcium from the feedstock followed by its precipitation as crystals of calcium sulphate, which are then converted into calcium carbonate. Carbonation efficiency of the process increased when temperature was raised and solid to liquid ratio and particle size reduced. A 74%, 67% and 59% of carbonation efficiency was achieved for steel slag, ground granulated blast furnace slag and phosphorus slag, respectively. Finally, a real case scenario, where the mineralization process would be retrofitted to a steel plant, was investigated. It was found that, because of the thermal and electrical energy required to run the process, the mineralization system would be carbon negative (i.e. storing more CO2 than the amount emitted during the process) when the solid to liquid ratio would be 240g/l or higher

Best Environmental Management Practice for the Waste Management Sector

The way communities generate and manage their waste plays an absolutely key role in their ability to use resources efficiently. While making European economy more resource efficient and circular requires a large spectrum of actions, a huge potential for saving resources lays in improving waste management at local level in Europe. On the basis of an in-depth analysis of the actions implemented by frontrunner organisations in the waste management sector, this report describes a set of best practices with high potential for broad uptake. They are called Best Environmental Management Practices (BEMPs) and aim to help local authorities in charge of waste management and waste management companies move towards circular economy. The BEMPs, identified in close cooperation with a technical working group comprising experts from the sector, cover the waste management areas which determine the most the overall waste management performance: setting a waste management strategy, promoting waste prevention, establishing an efficient waste collection that supports re-use and recycling, and stimulating waste and product re-use. Certain areas of waste treatment are also covered. The BEMPs address mainly the management of municipal solid waste, but also of construction and demolition waste and healthcare waste. Additionally, the report provides a set of environmental performance indicators that organisations can use to assess their waste management performance and monitor progress as well as benchmarks of excellence that give an indication of the levels achieved by best performers. The report presents a wide range of information (environmental benefits, economics, case studies, references, etc.) for each of the best practices and aims to provide inspiration and guidance to organisations of the sector. In addition, the report will be the technical basis for the development of an EMAS (EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) Sectoral Reference Document on Best Environmental Management Practice for the Waste Management sector according to Article 46 of Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 (EMAS Regulation).JRC.B.5-Circular Economy and Industrial Leadershi

Mass and energy balance of NH4-salts pH swing mineral carbonation process using steel slag

AbstractA basic evaluation of the entire NH4-salts pH swing mineral carbonation process steel slag based system including CO2 capture, ammonia absorption and regeneration of additives, has been investigated to evaluate its feasibility at industrial scale.Heat released from mineral dissolution, pH adjustment and precipitation of impurities, carbonation reaction and CO2 capture was2.3 MWh/tCO2 and could be recovered using heat exchangers and reused within the mineralization process to heat-up the incoming streams of steel slag, ammonium sulphate and water. Heat required, mainly from water evaporation and regeneration of additives, is reported to be 20 MWh/tCO2

Mineral carbonation from metal wastes: Effect of solid to liquid ratio on the efficiency and characterization of carbonated products

AbstractMineral carbonation technologies aim at permanently storing CO2 into materials rich in metal oxides. A multi-step mineralization process employing Ca-rich waste streams to precipitate calcium carbonate is investigated in this paper. Ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBS), phosphorus slag (PS) and steel slag (SS) were employed as feeding materials for the process. Solid to liquid ratio (S/L) is an important factor which affects mineral carbonation and this study examines its effect on the carbonation efficiencies. The main phases present in the carbonated residues were identified using XRF, XRD and SEM–EDS analytical techniques. For the three materials investigated, the carbonation efficiency increased when the S/L ratio decreased (from 50g/L to 25g/L and then 15g/L) because of the dilution effect. In a previous study, where an analog process was employed, efficiency using serpentine was found lower than that calculated here for GGBS and SS, and slightly above PS. This confirms that, in general, waste materials require less energy-intensive carbonation conditions, in comparison to mineral rocks. Finally, the structure of the carbonated particles is also discussed

Best Environmental Management Practice for the Car Manufacturing Sector Learning from frontrunners

The European automotive industry is one of the EU's largest manufacturing sectors, and the automotive value chain covers many activities largely carried out within the EU, such as design and engineering, manufacturing, maintenance and repair, and end-of-life vehicle (ELV) handling. This Best Practice report describes Best Environmental Management Practices (BEMPs), i.e. techniques, measures or actions that are implemented by the organisations within the sector which are most advanced in terms of environmental performance in areas such as energy and resource efficiency, emissions, or supply chain management. The BEMPs provide inspirational examples for any organisation within the sector to improve its environmental performance. The report firstly outlines technical information on the contribution of car manufacturing and end-of-life vehicle (ELV) handling to key environmental burdens in the EU, alongside data on the economic relevance of the sector. The second chapter presents best environmental management practice of interest primarily for manufacturing companies (car manufacturers and associated manufacturers in the supply chain) covering cross-cutting issues related to key environmental impacts (such as energy, waste, water management, or biodiversity) before exploring best practice linked to specific topics, such as supply chain management. Subsequently, specific information concerning actors in the treatment of end-of-life vehicles is presented in the third chapter, focussing in particular on best practice applicable to processers of ELVs. This Best Practice Report was developed with support from a Technical Working Group of experts from the car manufacturing and ELV sector and associated fields. The report gives a wide range of information (environmental benefits, economics, indicators, benchmarks, references, etc.) for each of the proposed best practices in order to be a source of inspiration and guidance for any company of the sector wishing to improve environmental performance. In addition, it will be the technical basis for a Sectoral Reference Document on the car manufacturing sector, to be produced by the European Commission according to the EMAS Regulation.JRC.B.5-Circular Economy and Industrial Leadershi

Best Environmental Management Practice in the Fabricated Metal Product manufacturing sector

This report encloses technical information pertinent to the development of Best Environmental Management Practices (BEMPs) for the Sectoral Reference Document on the Fabricated Metal Products manufacturing sector, to be produced by the European Commission according to Article 46 of Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 (EMAS Regulation). The BEMPs, both of technological and management nature (identified in close cooperation with a technical working group) address all the relevant environmental aspects of the Fabricated Metal Products manufacturing facilities. The BEMPs described in this report provide guidance on the cross-cutting issues and optimisation of utilities of the manufacturing facilities. Moreover, the BEMPs cover also the most relevant manufacturing processes, looking at energy and material efficiency, protecting and enhancing biodiversity, using of renewable energy and using rationally and effectively chemicals e.g. for cooling of various machining processes. Each BEMP gives a wide range of information and outlines the achieved environmental benefits, appropriate environmental performance indicators to measure environmental performance against the proposed benchmarks of excellence, economics etc. aiming at giving inspiration and guidance to any company of the sector who wishes to improve its environmental performance.JRC.B.5-Circular Economy and Industrial Leadershi

Best Environmental Management Practice for the Food and Beverage Manufacturing Sector

This report describes best environmental management practices for food and beverage manufacturers. Best environmental management practices are those techniques, measures and actions that can be implemented by food and beverage manufacturers to minimise their impact on the environment all along the value chain of their products. They were identified together with sectoral experts on the basis of practices actually implemented by environmental frontrunners. The report outlines best environmental management practices that are broadly applicable to all food and beverage manufacturers, such as the carrying out of an environmental assessment, sustainable supply chain management, cleaning operations, improvement of energy efficiency, use of renewable energy, optimisation of transport and distribution, refrigeration and freezing operations and food waste prevention. Additionally, specific best practices for nine individual subsectors are presented, namely the processing of coffee, manufacture of olive oil, manufacture of soft drinks, manufacture of beer, production of meat and poultry meat products, manufacture of fruit juice, cheese making operations, manufacture of bread, biscuits and cakes and manufacture of wine. Alongside best environmental management practices, the report also identifies suitable sector specific environmental performance indicators related to the topic of each best practices, and, when possible, benchmarks of excellence, corresponding to the level of performance achieved by frontrunners. This report can be used by food and beverage manufacturers as a source of information to identify relevant actions they can implement to improve their environmental performance. On its basis, the EMAS (EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) Sectoral Reference Document on Best Environmental Management Practice for the food and beverage manufacturing sector was developed (according to Article 46 of Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009).JRC.B.5-Circular Economy and Industrial Leadershi

Best Environmental Management Practice in the Telecommunications and ICT Services sector: Learning from front runners

The steady growth over the past decades of the Telecommunications and ICT Services sector, and its uninterrupted progress with the constant provision of renewed and ever-faster services as well as new applications, has transformed many aspects of our society and lives but has also spurred the development of ever more power- and resource-hungry systems, contributing to the sector’s ever-growing environmental footprint. On the basis of an in-depth analysis of the actions implemented by environmental front runners and of existing EU and industry initiatives addressing the environmental performance of the sector, this report describes a set of best practices with high potential for larger uptake. These are called Best Environmental Management Practices (BEMPs). The BEMPs, identified in close cooperation with a technical working group comprising experts from the sector, cover improvement of environmental performance across all significant environmental aspects (energy consumption, resource consumption, etc.) at the different life cycle stages (planning and design, installation, operation, end-of-life management, etc.) and for different ICT assets (software, data centres, etc.). Besides actions aimed at reducing the environmental impact of Telecommunications and ICT Services operations (with a special focus on data centres and telecommunications networks), the report also identifies best practices in the ICT sector that contribute towards reducing the environmental impact of other sectors of the economy ("greening by ICT" measures). The report gives a wide range of information (environmental benefits, economics, indicators, benchmarks, references, etc.) for each of the proposed best practices in order to be a source of inspiration and guidance for any company in the sector wishing to improve its environmental performance. In addition, it will be the technical basis for a Sectoral Reference Document on Best Environmental Management Practice for the Telecommunications and ICT Services sector, to be produced by the European Commission according to Article 46 of Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 (EMAS Regulation).JRC.B.5-Circular Economy and Industrial Leadershi

Stakeholder needs analysis towards a new concept for the identification and promotion of Best Environmental Management Practices

The European Commission has been identifying and promoting Best Environmental Management Practices (BEMPs) in implementation of a provision of the (EU) Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) Regulation. BEMPs are those actions or techniques resulting in improvements of environmental performance well above common practice that can be implemented by organisations in different sectors. They are identified by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) working in close cooperation with sectoral technical working groups (TWG) on the basis of the actions implemented by frontrunner organisations. They are used, on a voluntary basis, by both EMAS registered organisations and all other organisations interested in improving their environmental performance. This stakeholder need analysis was performed to identify the major improvement opportunities in the development and promotion of BEMPs, by taking into account the main needs and barriers faced by stakeholders, with the goal to develop and validate possible solutions to a future format and approach. On these basis, this stakeholder need analysis provides information on the main barriers and needs faced by organisations in the improvement of environmental performance and identifies an interactive web-tool with sectoral specific content and features as the recommended format and approach for both developing and promoting BEMPs, as well as continuing to make available a report with detailed information about the best environmental practices.JRC.B.5-Circular Economy and Industrial Leadershi

Agreement on classification of clinical photographs of pigmentary lesions: exercise after a training course with young dermatologists.

Smartphone apps may help promoting the early diagnosis of melanoma. The reliability of specialist judgment on lesions should be assessed. Hereby, we evaluated the agreement of 6 young dermatologists, after a specific training. Clinical judgment was evaluated during 2 online sessions, 1 month apart, on a series of 45 pigmentary lesions. Lesions were classified as highly suspicious, suspicious, non-suspicious or not assessable. Cohen's and Fleiss' kappa were used to calculate intra- and inter-rater agreement. The overall intra-rater agreement was 0.42 (95% confidence interval - CI: 0.33-0.50), varying between 0.12-0.59 on single raters. The inter-rater agreement during the first phase was 0.29 (95% CI: 0.24-0.34). When considering the agreement for each category of judgment, kappa varied from 0.19 for not assessable to 0.48 for highly suspicious lesions. Similar results were obtained in the second exercise. The study showed a less than satisfactory agreement among young dermatologists. Our data point to the need for improving the reliability of the clinical diagnoses of melanoma especially when assessing small lesions and when dealing with thin melanomas at a population level