Screening the environmental sustainability of microbial production of butyric acid produced from lignocellulosic waste streams

2021 ◽  
Vol 162 ◽  
pp. 113280
Author(s):  
Iana Câmara-Salim ◽  
Sara González-García ◽  
Gumersindo Feijoo ◽  
Maria Teresa Moreira
Keyword(s):  
Butyric Acid ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Microbial Production ◽  
Lignocellulosic Waste ◽  
Waste Streams

Sustainable Production in the Age of Mass Customization: An Example in the Footwear Industry

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serena Graziosi ◽  
Michele Germani
Keyword(s):  
Mass Customization ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Product Variety ◽  
Global Market ◽  
Sustainable Production ◽  
Waste Material ◽  
Production Lines ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Footwear Industry ◽  
Production Environments

It is well known that the global market is driving companies towards new productive paradigms oriented to product customization, agility and environmental sustainability. Companies have to face the problem of providing as much product variety as possible in order to rapidly satisfy a wide number of specific market segments. Even if the emerging automated agile production environments could enable them to manage product variety, in many productive fields, large waste streams, due to the practical difficulty of adapting the traditional production lines to product changes, are still present. At the same time a growing public concern for the environment, is forcing companies to investigate alternative uses for waste material. In this paper we present a practical example from the footwear industry in order to show how companies can successfully apply the concept of sustainable production taking into account the mass customization requirements but contemporarily reducing the material waste. The approach is focused on the combination in the same plant of two different production lines: one is dedicated to the primary production while the other uses the waste material to realize the secondary production.

scholarly journals “What a Waste”—Can We Improve Sustainability of Food Animal Production Systems by Recycling Food Waste Streams into Animal Feed in an Era of Health, Climate, and Economic Crises?

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 7071
Author(s):  
Gerald C. Shurson
Keyword(s):  
Food Waste ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Animal Feed ◽  
The United States ◽  
Animal Production ◽  
Substantial Contribution ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Food Animal ◽  
Animal Production Systems

Food waste has been a major barrier to achieving global food security and environmental sustainability for many decades. Unfortunately, food waste has become an even bigger problem in many countries because of supply chain disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic and African Swine Fever epidemic. Although Japan and South Korea have been leaders in recycling food waste into animal feed, countries that produce much greater amounts of food waste, such as the United States and the European Union, have lagged far behind. Concerns about the risk of transmission of bacteria, prions, parasites, and viruses have been the main obstacles limiting the recycling of food waste streams containing animal-derived tissues into animal feed and have led to government regulations restricting this practice in the U.S. and EU. However, adequate thermal processing is effective for inactivating all biological agents of concern, perhaps except for prions from infected ruminant tissues. The tremendous opportunity for nitrogen and phosphorus resource recovery along with several other environmental benefits from recycling food waste streams and rendered animal by-products into animal feed have not been fully appreciated for their substantial contribution toward solving our climate crisis. It is time to revisit our global approach to improving economic and environmental sustainability by more efficiently utilizing the abundant supply of food waste and animal tissues to a greater extent in animal feed while protecting human and animal health in food animal production systems.

scholarly journals EXERGY AND EMERGY: COMPLEMENTARY TOOLS FOR ASSESSING THE ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY USE OF BIOSOLIDS GENERATED IN WASTEWATER-TREATMENT PLANT FOR ENERGYPRODUCTION

Química Nova ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Cano ◽  
Santiago Céspedes-Zuluaga ◽  
Camilo Guerrero-Martin ◽  
Darío Gallego
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plant ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Production System ◽  
Energy Production ◽  
Exergy Analysis ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Gas Cleaning ◽  
Energy Production System

Taking advantage of the energy contained in the biosolids generated in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) is one of the processes of greatest interest due to the opportunity to obtain an energy resources from a waste. The aim of this research was to analyze the environmental sustainability use of biosolids generated in a wastewater-treatment plant for energy-production by fluidized-bed gasification under exergy analysis. The energy-production system was based on previous studies of sustainable-emergy alternatives using biosolids. Sustainability of the process was evaluated by identifying stages in the energy-production system (from drying application to electricity generation) where it is possible to reduce useful energy losses as well as identifying the value of waste streams within the system through exergy analysis. It was illustrated the destroyed exergy and the efficiency by stage and by product in order to assess the effects of inefficiencies in the process sustainability. The mixture of biosolids with coal was identified as a highly sustainable stage of the process, as it presents the highest index of exergy sustainability (0.99), in contrast to the stages of energytransformation (turbine) and gas-cleaning, which efficiencies are 0.17 and 0.4, respectively. Energy-transformation and gas-cleaning stages are of interest in terms of an improved energy recovery process, making it more efficient by applying new technologies and/or using the waste streams that have high energy potentials.

scholarly journals An Integrated Approach for the Assessment of Environmental Sustainability in Agro-Industrial Waste Management Practices: The Case of the Tequila Industry

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Díaz-Vázquez ◽  
Danay Carrillo-Nieves ◽  
Danielle A. Orozco-Nunnelly ◽  
Carolina Senés-Guerrero ◽  
Misael Sebastián Gradilla-Hernández
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Physicochemical Characterization ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Water Sources ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Tequila Vinasses

Sustainable waste management is a key component needed to achieve multiple of the Sustainable Development Goals established by the United Nations for the year 2030. Such waste management can reduce the degradation of superficial water sources and can contribute to the sustainable and efficient use of resources. Due to their usually high nutrient and organic loads, agro-industrial wastes pose a threat to soil and water resources and are a major contributor to greenhouse gas generation. In this study, a novel approach was proposed to assess the environmental sustainability of vinasse management practices, integrating an extensive physicochemical characterization of tequila vinasses, a GIS-based weighted overlay analysis and a scenario analysis. Mathematical models were applied for the determination of discharged pollutants (nitrogen, phosphorus, BOD5), as well as greenhouse gas emissions. This methodology was applied to an environmental sustainability assessment of the management practices of tequila vinasses, which are one of the main waste streams generated by the agro-industry in the Mexican state of Jalisco and are one of the main contributors to organic and nutrient loads affecting the water quality of Jalisco’s superficial water sources. Through this integrated approach, critical regions for the management of tequila vinasses were determined and an extensive physicochemical characterization of tequila vinasses was performed and applied to assess the environmental sustainability of four management scenarios for tequila vinasses. These results can be used by decision-makers for the implementation of public policy and infrastructure for the improvement of local and regional waste management systems. Additionally, these data may be used to increase the environmental sustainability of the tequila industry. The proposed methodology has the potential to be applied to different waste-intensive regions as well as different organic waste streams for the assessment of the environmental sustainability of specific management practices considering the local and regional context.

Students promoting economic development and environmental sustainability

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 384-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Keen ◽  
Elizabeth Baldwin
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Waste Streams ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Community Partners ◽  
Community Based Research ◽  
New Information ◽  
Effective Form

Community‐based research has been suggested as a particularly effective form of service learning in college‐community collaborations. This paper reviews findings from interviews with alumni/ae and community partners of an environmental and economic sustainability center at Allegheny College in Northwest Pennsylvania, the Center for Economic and Environmental Development (CEED). CEED's community‐based research projects have spanned the natural and social sciences to analyze water quality, reduce waste streams and local energy consumption, identify environmental problems and enhance forest management. Interviews with alumni/ae point to the valued real world experience, enhanced cognitive development, and improved communication skills for students. Community partners valued new information and networks resulting from research and stressed the contribution they were making to college students' learning. Community‐based research projects can benefit from interviewees' recommendations to increase continuity, clarity of purpose, and follow‐through in projects, while maximizing opportunities for dialogue between community partners and students. Community‐based research may have a strong contribution to make to students' cognitive, academic, social, civic and career development.

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