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Diesel engine exhausts from a common rail 3.0 L F1C diesel engine were analyzed at two different load conditions of the WLTC testing cycle downstream of both the diesel particulate filter (DPF) and selective catalytic reactor (SCR) to verify their effect on the characteristics of carbon particulate matter. An array of chemical, physical and spectroscopic techniques (gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS), mobility analyzer, UV-Visible absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy) was applied for characterizing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), heavy aromatic compounds and soot, constituting the particulate matter (PM) sampled from the exhaust. The engine was operated in half load (HL) (188 Nm, representing the more common condition for engine in urban traffic) and full load (FL) (452 Nm, representing the best performance of the engine operation) conditions, at the same engine speed (2000 rpm). Soot formation was enhanced in HL condition, with respect to FL, but, just because of the much lower soot amount, the after-treatment systems in this last condition resulted to be less efficient in the soot abatement. Indeed, the abatement through DPF was about 40% lower in the FL condition with respect to HL condition, and any significant further concentration decrease was found after SCR, in both conditions. By contrast, PAH concentration after DPF abatement was found to be higher in the HL with respect to FL condition. A further PAH concentration decrease of about 30% was found after the SCR in the HL condition whereas in FL the reduction was only about 5-6%. Also the heavy aromatic compounds having molecular weight above the GC-MS detection limit (300 u), were mitigated by SCR. Therefore, SCR did not cause a further soot reduction, whereas it was effective in largely reducing PAH and heavy aromatics emissions, especially in the lower temperature condition featuring the half-load condition, when combustion efficiency is worse. Moreover, SCR system reduced the emission of small particles probably due to an enhanced agglomeration of particles, with beneficial effect on the harmfulness to human health.

The search for affordable high performance electrode materials in photoelectrochemical hydrogen production by solar water splitting is an ongoing quest. Hematite is a photoanode material with an electronic band gap suitable for efficient absorption of visible light in a photoelectrochemical cell (PEC). Although its poor electronic structure makes hematite a controversial candidate for PEC, it remains promising because it is an earth abundant, chemically stable and low cost material – necessary prerequisites for PEC to become a competitive cost-efficient solar fuel economy. In addition to reviewing some recent PEC research on hematite and its relevant physical and chemical characteristics, we show how hematite obtained by a low cost synthesis can be refined by hydrothermal treatment and further functionalized by coating with phycocyanin, a light harvesting protein known for photosynthesis in blue-green algae.

A water-soluble organic redox couple (TT−/DTT) and new organic dyes (D45 and D51) have been developed for aqueous dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). An optimal efficiency of 3.5% was obtained using the D51 dye and an optimized electrolyte composition. The highest IPCE value obtained was 68% at 460 nm.

The study tested the use of a trommel screen originally designed for compost materials to reject oversize particles from hog fuel, processed from several sources and by two different comminution devices. The experiment consisted in screening material previously comminuted by a convertible crusher, designed to use both hammers and knives. Three different feedstock types were used, and namely: discarded pallets, logs and branches from park maintenance. Each feedstock type came in two different qualities, depending on the tool used for comminution, i.e. hammers or knives. Trommel screen productivity varied between 4.2 t h-1, and 5.2 t h-1 of oven dry material. Screening hog fuel derived from pallets was 30% and 40% less productive than screening fuel derived from logs and branches, respectively. Screening cost varied from 16.2 EUR t-1 dry material in the case of branches, to 19.9 EUR t-1 oven dry material for pallets. Screening allowed an increase of fuel quality only when applied to pallet-derived hog fuel.

It is recognised that several constraints such as the lack of knowledge and expertise of farmers, land users and policy makers concerning agroforestry systems establishment and management hamper the adoption of agroforestry systems (Camilli et al. 2017). AFINET project acts at EU level in order to direct research results into practice and promote innovative ideas to face challenges and solve practitioners' problems. AFINET proposes an innovative methodology based on the creation of a European Interregional Network, linking different Regional Agroforestry Innovation Networks (RAINs). RAINs represent different climatic, geographical, social and cultural conditions and enclose a balanced representation of the key actors with complementary types of expertise (farmers, policy makers, advisory services, extension services, etc.). The Italian RAIN is focused on the Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) value chain, with the main aim to promote agroforestry management of local olive orchards. Olive trees are still managed traditionally, often in marginal sites, with minimal mechanization and relatively low external inputs such as chemical treatments in comparison to other crops. The presence of permanent crops (olive trees) guarantees a partially tree cover reducing hydrogeological risk. Soil management usually keeps natural grassing reducing soil carbon emission and increasing soil fertility (Bateni et al. 2017). Intercropping with cereals and/or fodder legumes and livestock can also be practiced in olive orchards, increasing the complexity of the olive tree multifunctional system. Moreover, olive orchards can be managed as agroforestry systems since they can be intercropped with arable crops (cereals, legumes) and/or combined with livestock (sheep, poultry). The RAIN process, involving local stakeholders, highlighted the main bottlenecks of the EVOO value chain related to communication and dissemination of knowledge, technical and management aspects, market and policy. In order to contrast bottlenecks and exploit opportunities of the olive oil supply chain, the identified innovations are: i) adoption of best practices: testing and experimenting innovative agroforestry systems introducing different crop/animals species and varieties; ii) improve the management of the olive orchards: encouraging and increasing the organic production; iii) valorisation of olive processing residues: identifying and testing innovative products (bio-materials, olive paste as example); iv) arise the awareness among consumers: educating people about the benefits of olive oil consumption, creating networks among stakeholders, improving marketing and commercialization. Creating a Bio-district, defined as a geographical area where farmers, citizens, tourist operators, associations and public authorities enter into an agreement for the sustainable management of local resources, emerged a powerful tool to implement the innovation in the local EVOO value chain.

Abstract The question whether coexistence of marine renewable energy (MRE) projects and marine protected areas (MPAs) is a common spatial policy in Europe and how a number of factors can affect it, has been addressed by empirical research undertaken in eleven European marine areas. Policy drivers and objectives that are assumed to affect coexistence, such as the fulfillment of conservation objectives and the prioritization of other competing marine uses, were scored by experts and predictions were crosschecked with state practice. While in most areas MRE-MPA coexistence is not prohibited by law, practice indicates resistance towards it. Furthermore expert judgment demonstrated that a number of additional factors, such as the lack of suitable space for MRE projects and the uncertainty about the extent of damage by MRE to the MPA, might influence the intentions of the two major parties involved (i.e. the MRE developer and the MPA authority) to pursue or avoid coexistence. Based on these findings, the interactions of these two players are further interpreted, their policy implications are discussed, while the need towards efficient, fair and acceptable MRE-MPA coexistence is highlighted.

A full understanding of the elementary processes taking place in dye-sensitised solar cells requires an accurate description of the electronic structure of the dyes, the semiconductor surface, the electrolyte and their interactions. This review describes how electronic structure calculations have contributed to the field since its first steps and what methodologies have been adopted to study the charge transfer processes at the interface. Not all properties are equally predictable with electronic structure methods, and this work highlights the main success areas (e.g. the rationalization of the optical properties of the dyes), the recent developments (e.g. the improved description of the dye–semiconductor interaction) and the key challenges for the future (e.g. the calculation of charge recombination rate).

Plants and cyanobacteria use the chlorophylls embedded in their photosystems to absorb photons and perform charge separation, the first step of converting solar energy to chemical energy. While oxygenic photosynthesis is primarily based on chlorophyll a photochemistry, which is powered by red light, a few cyanobacterial species can harness less energetic photons when growing in far-red light. Acclimatization to far-red light involves the incorporation of a small number of molecules of red-shifted chlorophyll f in the photosystems, whereas the most abundant pigment remains chlorophyll a. Due to its different energetics, chlorophyll f is expected to alter the excited-state dynamics of the photosynthetic units and, ultimately, their performances. Here we combined time-resolved fluorescence measurements on intact cells and isolated complexes to show that chlorophyll f insertion slows down the overall energy trapping in both photosystems. While this marginally affects the efficiency of photosystem I, it substantially decreases that of photosystem II. Nevertheless, we show that despite the lower energy output, the insertion of red-shifted chlorophylls in the photosystems remains advantageous in environments that are enriched in far-red light and therefore represents a viable strategy for extending the photosynthetically active spectrum in other organisms, including plants. However, careful design of the new photosynthetic units will be required to preserve their efficiency.