Article
Environmental Sciences
Maria Pia Desole, Lorenzo Fedele, Annamaria Gisario, Massimiliano Barletta
Summary: This study addresses the implementation of a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) on ceramic sanitaryware production and evaluates three different scenarios for reducing environmental impact. The results show that the use of a photovoltaic system and water recovery can significantly reduce environmental impacts, but the crushing process for fired waste exacerbates electricity consumption. Therefore, improving the waste recovery system and adopting energy-saving solutions can considerably reduce the environmental burden of the production system, but it may increase costs and maintenance.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Kevin Jia Le Lee, Sook Fun Wong
Summary: Proper end-of-life management of mixed plastic waste is a global challenge, and current pathways are designed based on geographical conditions and environmental regulations. This study assesses the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of different plastic EOL pathways in Singapore, emphasizing the need to redesign waste-to-resource taxonomy and maximize mechanical recycling to reduce reliance on thermal energies and improve performance.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Anurag Deepak, Varun Sharma, Dinesh Kumar
Summary: This paper addresses the environmental burden of existing biomedical waste management in northern India and suggests constructive steps to achieve a less impactful environment through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The study finds that an integrated system including incineration with energy recovery, autoclave-shredder, chemical disinfection, and Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) reduces the environmental burden compared to the present state. The paper suggests that LCA is a beneficial tool for decision-makers and managers to reduce environmental burden and develop a life cycle inventory database for developed economies.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Sara Rajabi Hamedani, Andrea Colantoni, Leonardo Bianchini, Monica Carnevale, Enrico Paris, Mauro Villarini, Francesco Gallucci
Summary: This study investigates the environmental performance of using spent coffee ground in pellet production. The results show that spent coffee ground pellets can mitigate climate change and reduce freshwater eutrophication, and they have favorable environmental profiles.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Susanna Andreasi Bassi, Davide Tonini, Hans Saveyn, Thomas Fruergaard Astrup
Summary: This study analyzes the EU demand for PET packaging and quantifies the potential environmental and societal savings through changing waste management and consumption patterns. The results show that implementing more efficient waste management systems and a robust secondary material market can lead to significant reductions in CO2 emissions and PM2.5 emissions, while also avoiding high societal costs. Limiting the growth of PET consumption can also improve waste management efficiency and save on emissions and societal costs.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Izabela Samson-Brek, Marlena Owczuk, Anna Matuszewska, Krzysztof Biernat
Summary: Life cycle analysis allows for assessing the impact of human activities on the environment, with a focus on electricity and heat production. The study shows that replacing purpose-grown crops with waste materials in biogas production can significantly enhance the environmental benefits, particularly in terms of human health and resources.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Muhammad Hammad Mushtaq, Fahad Noor, M. A. Mujtaba, Salman Asghar, Abdulfatah Abdu Yusuf, Manzoore Elahi M. Soudagar, Abrar Hussain, Mohamed Fathy Badran, Kiran Shahapurkar
Summary: The growing population in urban areas exacerbates the issue of hospital waste management in developing countries. This study evaluates the environmental impacts of different hospital waste management scenarios using life cycle assessment approach. The findings suggest that implementing an integrated approach can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and recover materials for reuse. Therefore, implementing an integrated approach is crucial for advancing sustainable hospital waste management. The results of this study can be utilized for future research and policymaking.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Tayebeh Abbasi, Neamatollah Jaafarzadeh Haghighi Fard, Farzan Madadizadeh, Hadi Eslami, Ali Asghar Ebrahimi
Summary: The life cycle of PET and LDPE milk packaging containers was assessed in different scenarios in Iran, including resin production, packaging production, collection, transportation, and waste management. Recycling was found to be more beneficial than landfill and incineration in all scenarios. The third scenario, with higher recycling and lower landfill and incineration rates, was determined to be the most beneficial for waste disposal. PET had a greater life cycle impact than LDPE in most categories, except for air pollutants.
JOURNAL OF POLYMERS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Lingyue Zhang, Hao Bai, Yawei Zhang, Yang Wang, Dongbei Yue
Summary: This study developed four common treatment strategies for leachate treatment plants in China, based on existing operation and construction conditions. Implementing high-level technologies to meet strict standards can reduce eutrophication potential but may increase other environmental impacts. Advanced technologies that integrate midpoint and endpoint LCA results are proposed to meet stringent standards in eutrophication sensitive areas.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
David Sanjuan-Delmas, Sue Ellen Taelman, Alessandro Arlati, Andreas Obersteg, Csaba Ver, Agnes Ovari, Davide Tonini, Jo Dewulf
Summary: This study focuses on a comprehensive sustainability assessment of the management of organic waste in Ghent (Belgium), Hamburg (Germany), and Pe 'cs (Hungary). The results show that food waste prevention leads to significant improvements in all areas of protection, while innovative treatments like insect breeding show potential for certain categories depending on technology development level and impact compensation. Trade-offs may occur with increased separate collection of organic waste, such as decreased energy recovery savings at incineration, necessitating careful consideration of factors like electricity mix and potential bottlenecks in implementing solutions in other cities.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Roberto Porcelli, Thomas Gibon, Diego Marazza, Serena Righi, Benedetto Rugani
Summary: The EU energy sector is expected to transition to renewable sources, and a prospective assessment framework has been designed to evaluate the environmental impact of a new biowaste-based energy technology. The framework includes a dynamic input-output model to simulate the implementation of the technology over time and calculates the total impacts on various environmental factors. The simulation shows that the technology can significantly reduce carbon emissions and bring changes to the economy structure. The factors affecting the model output, uncertainties, and assumptions are discussed to assess the framework's scope and limitations for decision-making.
RENEWABLE & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY REVIEWS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Guillermo Garcia-Garcia, Maria Angeles Martin-Lara, Monica Calero, Francisco Ortega, Gabriel Blazquez
Summary: Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, a large number of face masks have been used and disposed of, resulting in significant environmental impact. However, pyrolysis of face masks has emerged as a sustainable solution, as it can produce liquid oil for diesel substitution and solid char for activated carbon substitution. This study used Life-Cycle Assessment methodology to examine the environmental impacts of various pyrolysis treatment scenarios for surgical masks and FFP2 masks, comparing them to landfilling. The results showed that using the produced oil as a diesel substitute greatly reduces the environmental impact, with thermal pyrolysis performing better than catalytic pyrolysis. Freshwater and marine ecotoxicity were found to be the highest environmental impact categories in all scenarios.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Diogo A. Lopes Silva, Gabriela Giusti, Izabela S. Rampasso, Antonio Carlos Farrapo Junior, Manoela Anechini Simoes Marins, Rosley Anholon
Summary: The study found that remote classes during the COVID-19 pandemic tend to minimize the overall evaluated impacts to ten of the thirteen impact categories. An optimal scenario was also proposed showing an overall minimization of the impacts by up to 57%, if a hybrid class model were to be adopted.
SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Hanqiao Liu, Tong Liu, Guoxia Wei, Hailong Zhao, Tong Li, Fangkai Weng, Xin Guo, Yanzhang Wang, Yanfei Lin
Summary: This study compares economically-affordable and environmentally-friendly rural domestic waste treatment models with different gasification scales through life cycle assessment and life cycle cost analysis. The findings show that the county model has the smallest overall environmental impact, while the town model has the lowest economic cost.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Gianluca Speranza, Alessio Ferrari, Pyrene Larrey Lassalle
Summary: This study investigates the impact of unsaturated soil mechanics on the sustainability of retaining structures through geotechnical and environmental analysis. The results show the potential reductions in environmental impacts by considering unsaturated soils in the design process.
GEOMECHANICS FOR ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Ricardo Ramirez-Villegas, Ola Eriksson, Thomas Olofsson
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Daniel Bockin, Siri Willskytt, Hampus Andre, Anne-Marie Tillman, Maria Ljunggren Soderman
RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING
(2020)
Correction
Engineering, Environmental
Huseyin Guven, Ola Eriksson, Zhao Wang, Izzet Ozturk
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Sandra Carlos-Pinedo, Zhao Wang, Ola Eriksson, Shveta Soam
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Raphael Wasserbaur, Tomohiko Sakao, Maria Ljunggren Soderman, Andrius Plepys, Carl Dalhammar
RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING
(2020)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Muhammad Arfan, Zhao Wang, Shveta Soam, Ola Eriksson
Summary: The study highlights that the lack of effectiveness of biofuels policy instruments in the Gavleborg region of Sweden, compared to the rest of the country, can be attributed to different geodemographic characteristics. Aside from previously identified factors, the underdeveloped biogas value chain in the region is also hindered by undefined rules of the game, unnecessary competition among fuel alternatives, municipality prioritization ambiguity, and regional cultural differences. To strengthen the regional biogas sector, strategies are needed to address these local factors, and national policy instruments should consider geographical conditions in regulatory, economic support, and market formation.
Review
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Tova Billstein, Anna Bjorklund, Tomas Rydberg
Summary: The environmental impact of Industry 4.0 and related technologies is relatively unknown, with little research focused on sustainability aspects and a lack of consensus on how to assess it. This study identified eight key challenges related to system boundaries, data collection methods, energy intensity metrics, transparency, data availability, age of data, allocation procedures, assumptions, and limited coverage of impact categories. Several approaches to address these challenges are suggested, along with the need for further investigation in certain areas.
Review
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Elvira Molin, Michael Martin, Anna Bjoerklund
Summary: The literature review on sustainable public procurement of food has shown a focus on evaluating policies and practices, with specific attention on certain food types and sources to address all three sustainability pillars. Most articles cover all three aspects of sustainability (environmental, social, and economic) in relation to food procurement, but there is a need for more studies to assess the sustainability outcomes and improve procurement processes towards more sustainable foods.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Johan Brandstrom, Ola Eriksson
Summary: Circular Economy is a concept aiming to improve sustainable development by reducing resource use and impact on ecological systems. However, the existing circularity metrics lack connection to environmental performance, do not highlight the interplay between different levels of circularity, and do not consider all material loops from a value chain perspective. To address these issues, a material flow-based C metric was developed to convert mechanisms of closing, narrowing and slowing material loops into a single-point value, showing feasibility in various situations but highly dependent on assumptions. Further testing and standardization of user input assumptions are needed to ensure metric reliability.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Hampus Andr, Maria Ljunggren
Summary: This study examines the use of complementary methods to address short and long-term mineral resource scarcity issues in a company context. The results indicate that copper, neodymium, and dysprosium are prioritized in mitigating long-term scarcity impacts, while in the short-term, the electric motor is most vulnerable to a potential supply disruption of iron and silicon. Furthermore, the study highlights the need for a more context-specific assessment of criticality.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2022)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Maryna Henrysson, Asterios Papageorgiou, Anna Bjorklund, Fedra Vanhuyse, Rajib Sinha
Summary: This study examines the potential of the EU Circular Economy Monitoring Framework as a monitoring tool for urban areas and evaluates data quality for urban-level application.
SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Bojana Petrovic, Ola Eriksson, Xingxing Zhang
Summary: The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of building design changes, differentiation of biogenic carbon from fossil carbon, and inclusion of external benefits on the carbon accounting of a wooden single-family house. Life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to analyze the greenhouse gas emissions of different building design scenarios, while life cycle cost (LCC) was used to assess the costs. The results showed that an improved building design with positive and negative emissions considered in scenario 4 had the lowest embodied GHG emissions.
BUILDING AND ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Thermodynamics
Muhammad Arfan, Ola Eriksson, Zhao Wang, Shveta Soam
Summary: This study provides an environmental and economic assessment of hydrogen production from biowaste and biomass using a life cycle perspective. Ten environmental impact categories are analyzed using SimaPro LCA software and CML-IA method. The results show that hydrogen production from biowaste has higher climate impact, photochemical oxidant, and freshwater eutrophication compared to biomass. However, it performs better in other impact categories such as ozone depletion, terrestrial ecotoxicity, abiotic depletion-fossil, abiotic depletion, human toxicity, and freshwater ecotoxicity. The sensitivity analysis indicates that feedstock ratio and energy source significantly influence the results, particularly in climate change, abiotic depletion, and human toxicity.
ENERGY CONVERSION AND MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Bojana Petrovic, Xingxing Zhang, Ola Eriksson, Marita Wallhagen
Summary: The study aimed to explore the long-term costs for a single-family house in Sweden using the life cycle cost method. Results showed that decreasing the discount rate significantly increased the total costs, with construction costs being a major component. The findings will be useful for decision-makers in the building sector.
Article
Environmental Studies
Magnus Andersson, Maria Ljunggren Soderman, Bjorn A. Sanden
