Economic Feasibility and Environmental Sustainability of a Community Scale Multi-component Bioenergy System

2019 ◽  
pp. 237-250
Author(s):  
Dipam Patowary ◽  
Trinakshee Sarmah ◽  
Gunajit Dev Sarma ◽  
Bharat Terang ◽  
Rupam Patowary ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Economic Feasibility

scholarly journals Reviewing the interface of bioeconomy and ecosystem service research

AMBIO ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (12) ◽  
pp. 1878-1896 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalia D’Amato ◽  
Bartosz Bartkowski ◽  
Nils Droste
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Sustainability Science ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Scientific Publications ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Services Delivery ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Societal Actors

Abstract The bioeconomy is currently being globally promoted as a sustainability avenue involving several societal actors. While the bioeconomy is broadly about the substitution of fossil resources with bio-based ones, three main (competing or complementary) bioeconomy visions are emerging in scientific literature: resource, biotechnology, and agroecology. The implementation of one or more of these visions into strategies implies changes to land use and thus ecosystem services delivery, with notable trade-offs. This review aims to explore the interdisciplinary space at the interface of these two concepts. We reviewed scientific publications explicitly referring to bioeconomy and ecosystem services in their title, abstract, or keywords, with 45 documents identified as relevant. The literature appeared to be emerging and fragmented but eight themes were discernible (in order of decreasing occurrence frequency in the literature): a. technical and economic feasibility of biomass extraction and use; b. potential and challenges of the bioeconomy; c. frameworks and tools; d. sustainability of bio-based processes, products, and services; e. environmental sustainability of the bioeconomy; f. governance of the bioeconomy; g. biosecurity; h. bioremediation. Approximately half of the documents aligned to a resource vision of the bioeconomy, with emphasis on biomass production. Agroecology and biotechnology visions were less frequently found, but multiple visions generally tended to occur in each document. The discussion highlights gaps in the current research on the topic and argues for communication between the ecosystem services and bioeconomy communities to forward both research areas in the context of sustainability science.

Opportunities for Nannochloropsis gaditana biomass through the isolation of its components and biodiesel production

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alvaro Mendoza ◽  
Gemma Vicente ◽  
L. F. Bautista ◽  
Victoria Morales
Keyword(s):  
Microbial Biomass ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Biodiesel Production ◽  
Renewable Fuels ◽  
Nannochloropsis Gaditana ◽  
Human Food ◽  
High Productivity ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Materials Used

AbstractBiomass from oleaginous microorganisms is an attractive source of materials used for the production of renewable fuels and industrial products due to its high productivity and the fact that it does not compete with human food. To ensure the economic feasibility and environmental sustainability of microbial biomass as feedstock, it is necessary to integrate its production and processing into the biorefinery concept. To achieve this goal, biodiesel production and fractionation of the whole biomass into different types of compounds (lipids, proteins, etc.) and further processing of each fraction must be performed. In the present work, the use of a microbial biomass source, the microalga

Sustainable sludge management - what are the challenges for the future?

2004 ◽  
Vol 49 (10) ◽  
pp. 11-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.H. Rulkens
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Toxic Substances ◽  
Sludge Treatment ◽  
Brief Assessment ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Valuable Compounds ◽  
Optimal Approach

Sewage sludge is a serious problem due to the high treatment costs and the risks to environment and human health. Future sludge treatment will be progressively focused on an improved efficiency and environmental sustainability of the process. In this context a survey is given of the most relevant sludge treatment options and separate treatment steps. Special attention is paid to those processes that are simultaneously focused on the elimination of the risks for environment and human health and on the recovery or beneficial use of the valuable compounds in the sludge such as organic carbon compounds, inorganic non-toxic substances, phosphorus and nitrogen containing compounds. Also, a brief assessment is given of the specific future technological developments regarding the various treatment steps. Furthermore, it is discussed how to assess the various pathways which can lead to the required developments. In such an assessment the technical and economic feasibility, the environmental sustainability, the societal acceptance and the implementation route are important factors. The optimal approach also strongly depends on the local and regional situation of concern and the relevant current and future boundary conditions.

scholarly journals Perspectivas de viabilidade econômica e ambiental: Integração entre a piscicultura e fruticultura irrigada em São João do Piauí (PI)

2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 103
Author(s):  
Maria Keila Jerônimo ◽  
Marcelo Batista Gomes ◽  
Cláudio Evangelista Sousa ◽  
Thiago Oliveira da Silva Brito ◽  
Elenice Monte Alvarenga
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Fish Farming ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Product Diversification ◽  
Northeastern Brazil ◽  
Semiarid Region ◽  
Financial Return ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Environmental Feasibility

<p>O Estado do Piauí apresenta-se como excelente campo de trabalho na avaliação da viabilidade de ações que visem à inclusão produtiva, à diversificação da produção e ao aumento da produtividade, permitindo-se, com isso, a avaliação do uso de tecnologias sociais na promoção do desenvolvimento regional sustentável. Neste trabalho objetivou-se atestar a viabilidade econômica e ambiental da utilização das águas do rio Piauí na piscicultura e seu posterior reuso em atividades de irrigação. O município de São João do Piauí no Estado do Piauí se consolida como espaço amostral de grande interesse, pois localiza-se em região semiárida, com sérias dificuldades de infraestrutura e distribuição de renda, além de ser palco para o desenvolvimento de um vultoso projeto de irrigação. Foi realizada uma estimativa do retorno financeiro gerado pela integração entre a piscicultura e a fruticultura irrigada, por meio da coleta de dados demonstrativos do rendimento destas atividades em outros municípios do nordeste do Brasil. Além disso, avaliou-se a viabilidade ambiental do consórcio entre ambos os cultivos, com base no estudo de indicadores de sustentabilidade calculados com dados oriundos de fontes secundárias. A partir das estimativas econômicas realizadas, foi verificada a positividade da viabilidade econômica da associação das cadeias produtivas, bem como se pode notar um maior grau de sustentabilidade ambiental do projeto mediante o consórcio de ambas as atividades produtivas.</p><p align="center"><strong><em>Perspectives of economic and environmental viability: Integration between fish farming and irrigated fruit production in São João do Piauí (PI)</em></strong></p><p><strong>Abstract</strong><strong>: </strong>Piauí presents itself as an excellent field of work in assessing the viability of actions that aim at productive inclusion, product diversification and increased productivity leading to the evaluation of the use of social technologies in promoting development sustainable regional. This work seeks to make an economic and environmental feasibility of the use of Piauí river waters in fish farming and its subsequent reuse in irrigation activities. São João do Piauí state Piauí is a sample space of great interest in evaluating the viability of these actions, because it is located in semiarid region with serious problems of infrastructure and income distribution as well as being host to the development of a bulky irrigation project.. An estimation of the financial return generated by the integration between a fish farm and an irrigated fruit tree was carried out, through the collection of data demonstrating the income of these activities in other municipalities in northeastern Brazil. In addition, evaluate the environmental feasibility of the consortium between both crops, based on the study of sustainability indicators calculated with data from secondary sources. From the economic estimates made, an evaluation of the economic feasibility of the association of productive chains was verified, as well as a greater degree of environmental sustainability of the project through the consortium of both productive activities.</p>

scholarly journals Performance Analysis of a Stirling Engine Hybrid Power System

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 980 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Jimenez Zabalaga ◽  
Evelyn Cardozo ◽  
Luis A. Choque Campero ◽  
Joseph Adhemar Araoz Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Performance Analysis ◽  
Power Systems ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Software Tool ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Battery System ◽  
Economic Criterion ◽  
Hybrid Power

The Bolivian government’s concerns that are related to reducing the consumption of diesel fuel, which is imported, subsidized, and provided to isolated electric plants in rural communities, have led to the implementation of hybrid power systems. Therefore, this article presents the performance analysis in terms of energy efficiency, economic feasibility, and environmental sustainability of a photovoltaic (PV)/Stirling battery system. The analysis includes the dynamic start-up and cooling phases of the system, and then compares its performance with a hybrid photovoltaic (PV)/diesel/battery system, whose configuration is usually more common. Both systems were initially optimized in size using the well-known energy optimization software tool, HOMER. An estimated demand for a hypothetical case study of electrification for a rural village of 102 households, called “Tacuaral de Mattos”, was also considered. However, since the characteristics of the proposed systems required a detailed analysis of its dynamics, a dynamic model that complemented the HOMER analysis was developed using MATLAB Simulink TM 8.9. The results showed that the PV/Stirling battery system represented a higher performance option to implement in the electrification project, due to its good environmental sustainability (69% savings in CO2 emissions), economic criterion (11% savings in annualized total cost), and energy efficiency (5% savings in fuel energy conversion).

scholarly journals Thermochemical and Economic Analysis for Energy Recovery by the Gasification of WEEE Plastic Waste from the Disassembly of Large-Scale Outdoor Obsolete Luminaires by LEDs in the Alto Alentejo Region (Portugal)

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (13) ◽  
pp. 4601
Author(s):  
Manuel Jesús Hermoso-Orzáez ◽  
Roberta Mota-Panizio ◽  
Luis Carmo-Calado ◽  
Paulo Brito
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Energy Recovery ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Crop Residues ◽  
Fixed Bed ◽  
Plastic Waste ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Thermochemical Conversion ◽  
Great Success ◽  
Energy Potential

The recovery of urban waste is a social demand and a measure of the energy-environmental sustainability of cities and regions. In particular, waste of electrical origin, waste of electrical and electronic materials (WEEE) can be recovered with great success. The plastic fraction of these wastes allows their gasification mixed with biomass, and the results allow for producing syngas with a higher energy potential. This work allows for obtaining energy from the recovery of obsolete materials through thermochemical conversion processes of the plastic waste from the disassembly of the luminaires by mixing the said plastic waste in different proportions with the biomass of crop residues (olive). The gasification tests of these mixtures were carried out in a downstream fixed-bed drown daft reactor, at temperatures of approximately 800 °C. The results demonstrate the applied technical and economic feasibility of the technology by thermal gasification, for the production of LHV (Low Heating Value) syngas with highest power energy (more than 5 MJ/m3) produced in mixtures of up to 20% of plastic waste. This study was complemented with the economic-financial analysis. This research can be used as a case study for the energy recovery through gasification processes of plastic waste from luminaires (WEEE), mixed with agricultural biomass that is planned to be carried out on a large scale in the Alentejo (Portugal), as a solution applied in circular economy strategies.

Designing-In Sustainability by Linking Engineering Curricula With K-12 Science Projects

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Z. Bernstein ◽  
Arjun Ramani ◽  
Xiulin Ruan ◽  
Devarajan Ramanujan ◽  
Karthik Ramani
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Design Thinking ◽  
Sustainable Design ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Holistic Treatment ◽  
Incoming Freshmen ◽  
Collegiate Level ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Engineering Schools

In light of society’s increasing awareness with regards to the health of the environment, many engineering firms are hiring recent engineering graduates with project- (or course-) based experience in environmental sustainability. Currently engineering schools at the collegiate level have addressed this need by modifying their curricula by including additional coursework on sustainability related subjects. The next step of adaptation calls for a holistic treatment of sustainability concepts by integrating them within traditional coursework. Engineering schools have not yet addressed the best way to accomplish this integration due to the concerns stemming from the increase in cognitive load and scheduling pressure. Additionally, it has been shown that K-12 curricula also lack exposure to sustainable thinking. As a result, incoming freshmen are not aware of the inherent correlations between engineering principles, e.g. heat transfer, and environmental sustainability. To prepare the next generation of innovative thinkers to solve these complex, interdisciplinary issues, engineering principles must be contextualized in terms of sustainable design at both the K-12 and undergraduate levels. To meet this need, the authors developed a general framework for introducing sustainable design thinking into K-12 student projects. A pilot case is presented to illustrate a particular student’s (listed as a co-author) growth through a newly gained understanding of environmental sustainability through experimentation. The project specifically addresses various insulation materials for residential buildings by judging their individual environmental advantages and economic feasibility. The main outcome of this project is the extensive redesign of an existing undergraduate heat and mass transfer lab experiment.

Downstream processing of virus, virus-like particles and nanoparticulate inclusion bodies to be used as gene delivery vehicles for human gene therapy applications

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moataz Dowaidar
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Inclusion Bodies ◽  
Culture Media ◽  
Downstream Processing ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Affinity Ligands ◽  
Virus Like Particles ◽  
Aqueous Two Phase Systems ◽  
Phase Systems

Design and analyze future affinity ligands such as antibodies, aptamers, metal affinity, peptides, triazine dyes, and red blood cell carriers to increase monolithic chromatography selectivity and two-phase affinity-aqueous systems. Monolithic chromatography systems may be constructed and optimized by examining viruses, virus-like particles, and nanoparticulate inclusion bodies from difficult culture media. Different chromatographic characteristics such as monolithic supports, active monolith groups, binding and elution buffers, elution gradients, column equilibrium volumes, and regeneration should be investigated with the aim of optimizing monolithic chromatography separation and recovery. To develop and optimize aqueous two-phase systems, several different parameters need to be investigated and compared, such as polymer type and concentration, salt solution, surfactants and ions, polymer molecular weight, ion nature and ionic strength, present affinity ligands, volumetric ratio, temperature, pH, and sample load, to name a few.Several relevant biological models, such as Newcastle disease (NDV), herpes (HPr), or viral vectors bluetongue (BTV), can be employed to establish different patterns and predict the generalized mechanistic process of enhanced purification systems. Because optimal systems are intended to be deployed at the industrial level, a comparison of typical downstream processing and alternatives in terms of recovery, technological advantages, economic feasibility, and environmental sustainability is needed. Cell separation, viral concentration and viral purification may all be reduced to one step utilizing integrated chromatography platforms on monolith supports and aqueous two-phase systems. In addition, the efficiency of separation and purification yields achieved after these integrated systems are predicted to be substantially higher than those produced in conventional procedures. As a result, the benefits of these alternative and cutting-edge technologies are predicted to contribute to more efficient, long-term, and cost-effective downstream processing of virus-like particles.

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