Remanufacturing end-of-life passenger car waste sheet steel into mesh sheet: A sustainability assessment.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Abdullah ZT
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8513846 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:The automobile industry contributes significantly to global energy use and carbon emissions. Hence, there are significant economic and environmental benefits in recovering materials from end-of-life vehicles (ELVs). Here, the remanufacturing of waste steel sheet (WSS) from ELVs into useful mesh steel sheet (MSS) for metal forming applications was evaluated based on its technological, economic, and environmental feasibility. A remanufacturing plant with a dismantling capacity of over 30,171 ELV/year and a recovery capacity of 1000 m2/d of WSS was used as a case study. Remanufacturing can achieve a total reduction of ~3800 kg CO2/ELV and an economic benefit of ~775 USD/ELV compared with conventional recycling. The calculated feasibility indexes were similar to or exceeded standard feasibility thresholds, indicating that WSS remanufacturing is a viable sustainable development route and has synergistic benefits when combined with existing recycling plants, especially in developing countries as small-to-medium enterprises.
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Project description:Construction and Demolition Waste represents a priority stream for the European Union and has a large potential for closing the material circulation loop in line with the Circular Economy principles. The present study focuses on the socio-economic and environmental implications of the management of such waste in the Campania Region (Italy), with the aim of documenting the benefits of recycling actions and landfill avoidance. By using local primary data, and complementing them with data from literature and datasets, three scenarios have been investigated: i) Status Quo, i.e., a baseline scenario presenting the current management of Construction and Demolition Waste in the Region; ii) a Linear Economy scenario, considering the total flow disposed of in landfill and iii) a Best Practice scenario based on the implementation of selective demolition practices and increased recycling for the production of high-quality recycled aggregates. Special attention has been paid to the land use and socio-economic implications linked to the management of this flow, which are rarely considered. We quantify that, with the implementation of best practices, ca. 18 Mkg CO2 -eq. can be saved annually relative to the Status Quo alongside creating additional 1,000 jobs-eq. and incurring important benefits on land use. The results stress that the potential environmental and social benefits of selective demolition and best practices are significant, but the incurred economic costs may hinder their application and the resulting development of more circular economy actions in the construction sector, highlighting the need for incentives and tools to facilitate this transition.
| S-EPMC8183595 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Food waste represents the largest fraction of the municipal solid waste generated in Europe and its management is associated to suboptimal performance in environmental, health, and social dimensions. By processing detailed multi-fold local data as part of a comprehensive and broadly understandable sustainability framework, this study quantifies the environmental and socio-economic impacts of household food waste management in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area based on priorities set by local stakeholders. Five alternative short-term management options have been assessed against the current system, relying on poor separate collection and incineration. Four options involve separate collection of food waste followed by biological treatments (home/centralised composting and anaerobic digestion) while one involves a mix of separate collection and centralised mechanical-biological treatment followed by anaerobic digestion. Among these, separate collection followed by anaerobic digestion coupled with effective nutrient and energy recovery is, according to our findings, the preferred option to improve the sustainability of the current system in all dimensions considered, except for the economic pillar due to the collection costs. Home and centralised composting as well as mechanical-biological treatment are associated to more adverse impacts based on our findings. The study informs local stakeholders and authorities on the potential consequences of their options, thereby allowing them to make sound choices for a future waste and circular economy strategy.
| S-EPMC7323620 | biostudies-literature
Project description:China is globally the largest and a rapidly growing market for electric vehicles. The aim of the paper is to determine challenges related to criticality and environmental impacts of battery electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles, focusing not only on a global but also the Chinese perspective, applying the ESSENZ method, which covers a unique approach to determine criticality aspects as well as integrating life cycle assessment results. Real industry data for vehicles and batteries produced in China was collected. Further, for the criticality assessment, Chinese import patterns are analyzed. The results show that the battery electric vehicle has similar and partly increased environmental impacts compared with the internal combustion engine vehicle. For both, the vehicle cycle contributes to a large proportion in all the environmental impact categories except for global warming. Further, battery electric vehicles show a higher criticality than internal combustion engine vehicles, with tantalum, lithium, and cobalt playing essential roles. In addition, the Chinese-specific results show a lower criticality compared to the global assessment for the considered categories trade barriers and political stability, while again tantalum crude oil and cobalt have high potential supply disruptions. Concluding, battery electric vehicles still face challenges regarding their environmental as well as criticality performance from the whole supply chain both in China and worldwide. One reason is the replacement of the lithium-ion power battery. By enhancing its quality and establishing battery recycling, the impacts of battery electric vehicle would decrease.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43615-021-00012-5.
| S-EPMC7899740 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposeThis study seeks to provide a framework for integrating animal welfare as a fourth pillar into a life cycle sustainability assessment and presents three alternative animal welfare indicators.MethodsAnimal welfare is assessed during farm life and during slaughter. The indicators differ in how they value premature death. All three consider (1) the life quality of an animal such as space allowance, (2) the slaughter age either as life duration or life fraction, and (3) the number of animals affected for providing a product unit, e.g. 1 Mcal. One of the indicators additionally takes into account a moral value denoting their intelligence and self-awareness. The framework allows for comparisons across studies and products and for applications at large spatial scales. To illustrate the framework, eight products were analysed and compared: beef, pork, poultry, milk, eggs, salmon, shrimps, and, as a novel protein source, insects.Results and discussionInsects are granted to live longer fractions of their normal life spans, and their life quality is less compromised due to a lower assumed sentience. Still, they perform worst according to all three indicators, as their small body sizes only yield low product quantities. Therefore, we discourage from eating insects. In contrast, milk is the product that reduces animal welfare the least according to two of the three indicators and it performs relatively better than other animal products in most categories. The difference in animal welfare is mostly larger for different animal products than for different production systems of the same product. This implies that, besides less consumption of animal-based products, a shift to other animal products can significantly improve animal welfare.ConclusionsWhile the animal welfare assessment is simplified, it allows for a direct integration into life cycle sustainability assessment. There is a trade-off between applicability and indicator complexity, but even a simple estimate of animal welfare is much better than ignoring the issue, as is the common practice in life cycle sustainability assessments. Future research should be directed towards elaborating the life quality criterion and extending the product coverage.
| S-EPMC6435210 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In this paper, we present novel type of Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) platform, based on stainless steel wire mesh (SSWM) covered with thin silver layer. The stainless steel wire mesh, typically used in chemical engineering industry, is a cheap and versatile substrate for SERS platforms. SSWM consists of multiple steel wires with diameter of tens of micrometers, which gives periodical structure and high stiffness. Moreover, stainless steel provides great resistance towards organic and inorganic solvents and provides excellent heat dissipation. It is worth mentioning that continuous irradiation of the laser beam over the SERS substrate can be a source of significant increase in the local temperature of metallic nanostructures, which can lead to thermal degradation or fragmentation of the adsorbed analyte. Decomposition or fragmentation of the analysed sample usually causea a significant decrease in the intensity of recorded SERS bands, which either leads to false SERS responses or enables the analysis of spectral data. To our knowledge, we have developed for the first time the thermally resistant SERS platform. This type of SERS substrate, termed Ag/SSWM, exhibit high sensitivity (Enhancement Factor (EF) = 10?) and reproducibility (Relative Standard Deviation (RSD) of 6.4%) towards detection of p-mercaptobenzoic acid (p-MBA). Besides, Ag/SSWM allows the specific detection and differentiation between Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial species: Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis in label-free and reproducible manner. The unique properties of designed substrate overcome the limitations associated with photo- and thermal degradation of sensitive bacterial samples. Thus, a distinctive SERS analysis of all kinds of chemical and biological samples at high sensitivity and selectivity can be performed on the developed SERS-active substrate.
| S-EPMC6163328 | biostudies-literature
Project description:End-of-use and end-of-life medicines waste management has been a challenge for public and private managers in different countries. Reverse logistics is a waste management strategy whose application to public pharmaceutical care processes faces legal restrictions and incertitude. Nevertheless, reverse logistics of end-of-use and end-of-life medicines may be both a saving and an environmental strategy in developing countries that manage health under limited resources. How to overcome restrictions to reverse logistics mainly in the context of primary health level? This study aims to investigate the most relevant critical factors for implementing medicine waste management in pharmaceutical care process. The unit analysis is the primary health level process in a developing country capital. Considering the characteristics of the issue at hand, it was designed a qualitative study. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews. The interviewees were key individuals who work directly with the process-from administering medicine to patients to managing waste at the end of the medicine's lifespan or after its use. Results indicated that despite reverse logistics arising from end users is legally forbidden, another type of reverse flow emerged from process analysis. The reverse flow, named reassignment flow, consists of still useful end-of-use medicines exchanged among the 10 government-ran pharmacies and over 140 health centers, where healthcare professionals administer and offer guidance on how to use them correctly. Another result was the identification of the most critical factors in implementing reverse logistics strategies in the public management context. The factors mentioned included aspects pertaining to management, information technology, infrastructure, and government, but they differ from the private context management, in which decision-makers has more freedom. Due to the barriers named by interviewees, the political barriers and complexity of primary health system, results of this investigation point to (i) reinforcing the reassignment flows inside pharmaceutical care logistics cycle, for saving purposes, and (ii) further development of a specific management unit to perform reverse logistics of end-of-use medicines arising from consumers, for environmental purposes. In times of shortage or resources caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, to know the critical factors is a step necessary in overcoming the current restrictions in direction of a well-succeeded medicines reverse logistics, either of reassignment or from final consumers. These results clarify the literature on end-of-use and end-of-life medicines reverse logistics. It also provides managers of 5000 municipalities in the country a perspective on the most relevant critical factors involved in their decision-making process, concerning the reuse of end-of-use medicines or the adequate disposal of end-of-life medicines in the environment.
| S-EPMC8187138 | biostudies-literature
Project description:PurposeTo measure the waste generation and lifecycle environmental emissions from cataract surgery via phacoemulsification in a recognized resource-efficient setting.SettingTwo tertiary care centers of the Aravind Eye Care System in southern India.DesignObservational case series.MethodsManual waste audits, purchasing data, and interviews with Aravind staff were used in a hybrid environmental lifecycle assessment framework to quantify the environmental emissions associated with cataract surgery. Kilograms of solid waste generated and midpoint emissions in a variety of impact categories (eg, kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalents).ResultsAravind generates 250 grams of waste per phacoemulsification and nearly 6 kilograms of carbon dioxide-equivalents in greenhouse gases. This is approximately 5% of the United Kingdom's phaco carbon footprint with comparable outcomes. A majority of Aravind's lifecycle environmental emissions occur in the sterilization process of reusable instruments because their surgical system uses largely reusable instruments and materials. Electricity use in the operating room and the Central Sterile Services Department (CSSD) accounts for 10% to 25% of most environmental emissions.ConclusionsSurgical systems in most developed countries and, in particular their use of materials, are unsustainable. Results show that ophthalmologists and other medical specialists can reduce material use and emissions in medical procedures using the system described here.
| S-EPMC5728421 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The construction industry has a considerable environmental impact in societies, which must be controlled to achieve adequate sustainability levels. In particular, cement production contributes 5-8% of CO2 emissions worldwide, mainly from the utilization of clinker. This study applied Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to investigate the environmental impact of cement production and explore environmental improvements obtained by adding marble waste sludges in the manufacture of Portland cement. It was considered that 6-35% of the limestone required for its production could be supplied by marble waste sludge (mainly calcite), meeting the EN 197-1:2011 norm. Energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission data were obtained from the Ecovent database using commercial LCA software. All life cycle impact assessment indicators were lower for the proposed "eco-cement" than for conventional cement, attributable to changes in the utilization of limestone and clinker. The most favorable results were achieved when marble waste sludge completely replaced limestone and was added to clinker at 35%. In comparison to conventional Portland cement production, this process reduced GHG emissions by 34%, the use of turbine waters by 60%, and the emission of particles into the atmosphere by 50%. Application of LCA methodology allowed evaluation of the environmental impact and improvements obtained with the production of a type of functional eco-cement. This approach is indispensable for evaluating the environmental benefits of using marble waste sludges in the production of cement.
| S-EPMC8535264 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The continuous deposition of hazardous metalliferous wastes derived from industrial steelmaking processes will lead to space shortages while valuable raw metals are being depleted. Currently, these landfilled waste products pose a rich resource for microbial thermoacidophilic bioleaching processes. Six thermoacidophilic archaea (Sulfolobus metallicus, Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, Metallosphaera hakonensis, Metallosphaera sedula, Acidianus brierleyi, and Acidianus manzaensis) were cultivated on metal waste product derived from a steelmaking process to assess microbial proliferation and bioleaching potential. While all six strains were capable of growth and bioleaching of different elements, A. manzaensis outperformed other strains and its bioleaching potential was further studied in detail. The ability of A. manzaensis cells to break down and solubilize the mineral matrix of the metal waste product was observed via scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Refinement of bioleaching operation parameters shows that changes in pH influence the solubilization of certain elements, which might be considered for element-specific solubilization processes. Slight temperature shifts did not influence the release of metals from the metal waste product, but an increase in dust load in the bioreactors leads to increased element solubilization. The formation of gypsum crystals in course of A. manzaensis cultivation on dust was observed and clarified using single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. The results obtained from this study highlight the importance of thermoacidophilic archaea for future small-scale as well as large-scale bioleaching operations and metal recycling processes in regard to circular economies and waste management. A thorough understanding of the bioleaching performance of thermoacidophilic archaea facilitates further environmental biotechnological advancements.
| S-EPMC9043896 | biostudies-literature