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Abstract Methane is responsible for 20% of the global warming resulting from greenhouse gas emissions. Municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are the third largest anthropogenic source of methane and are thus important to estimating the global methane budget and evaluating its contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions. Based on the greenhouse gas inventory guidelines from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the first-order decay method used to estimate emissions from MSW landfills – and in line with MSW management in various regions – we calculated methane emissions from MSW landfills in various Chinese provinces from 2003 to 2013. During this period, methane emissions from MSW landfills increased from 1141.10 Gg to 1858.98 Gg, representing a mean annual increase of 71.79 Gg. MSW emissions tended to increase more in the northern and western provinces than in the southern and eastern provinces, as methane emissions strongly and positively correlated with population and socioeconomic demographics. MSW decontamination is growing rapidly in China, and landfills predominate in all MSW treatments; moreover, incineration has also dramatically increased in recent years.

Abstract Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have driven the industry of rechargeable batteries in recent years due to their advantages such as high energy and power density and relatively long lifespan. Nevertheless, the dispose of spent LIBs has harmful impacts on the environment which needs to be addressed by recycling LIBs. However, none of the currently developed recycling processes is economical. The physical recycling process of LIBs may be economical if the cathode active materials can be separated, regenerated, and reused to make new LIBs. However, the first barrier for regeneration and reusing is the separation of different types of spent cathode active materials in the filter cake that are mixed with each other and come in the form of very fine powders with various sizes (< 30 μm) from the physical recycling process. The aim of this study is to separate the mixture of cathode active materials by adopting Stokes’ law. The focus will be only on mechanical separation with no thermal or chemical separation methods. For the validation, an experiment was designed and successfully performed where different types of spent cathode materials (e.g., LiCoO2, LiFePO4, and LiMn2O4) were separated from the spent anode materials (e.g., graphite) with high efficiency and reasonable time.

Land application of food processing wastes has become an acceptable practice because of the nutrient value of the wastes and potential cost savings in their disposal. Spoiled beets and pulp are among the main by‐products generated by the sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) processing industry. Farmers commonly land apply these by‐products at rates >224 Mg ha−1 on a fresh weight basis. However, information on nutrient release in soils treated with these by‐products and their subsequent impacts on crop yield is lacking. Field studies were conducted to determine the effects of sugar beet by‐product application on N release and crop yields over two growing seasons. Treatments in the first year were two rates (224 and 448 Mg ha−1 fresh weight) of pulp and spoiled beets and a nonfertilized control. In the second year after by‐product application, the control treatment was fertilized with N fertilizer and an additional treatment was added as a nonfertilized control in buffer areas. Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was grown in the year of by‐product application and sugar beet in the subsequent year. By‐product treatments caused a significant reduction in wheat grain yield compared with the control. This was due to a decline in N availability as a result of immobilization. Based on microplots receiving 15N labeled beets, wheat took up <1% of spoiled beet‐N (approximately 4.7 kg ha−1) during the year of by‐product application. In the second cropping year, sugar beet root yields were significantly higher in the fertilized control and by‐product treatments than the nonfertilized control. The lack of significant difference in sugar beet yield between the fertilized control and by‐product treatments was likely due to the greater availability of N in the second year. Labeled 15N data also showed that the sugar beet crop recovered a 17% of sugar beet‐N, an equivalent of 86 kg N ha−1, during the second cropping year. There was no difference in sugar beet root yield, N uptake, or soil N mineralization during the sugar beet cropping season between the pulp and the spoiled beet treatments at comparable rates of application.

Abstract The life cycle of a pavilion built for an international exhibition was investigated to understand the role that the design phase may play in the environmental sustainability of buildings. The limited life span of the structure allowed for a complete life cycle assessment (LCA) based on primary data to be undertaken, including the end of the first life. A methodology that considered an extension of the service life was applied to estimate the environmental impacts of distinct end-of-life scenarios. Results confirmed the paramount importance of the design phase in improving the life cycle sustainability of buildings. Accurate selection of materials allowed to markedly reduce the impact of the product stage (e.g. 37% fewer greenhouse gas emissions). Design for disassembly proved to be a necessary but not a sufficient condition to minimise the end-of-life impacts: design phase should not be limited to the appropriate selection of materials and components’ connections but must also foresee a second use for the structure or the materials at the end of the first life. Forecasting an after-life for the structure could reduce the life cycle burden up to 40% for several environmental impact categories. Conversely, if the second use is not predefined, the economic cost in the dismantling operation could become the priority rather than the salvaging of the components. Results of the present study may be used by future (temporary) building designers to improve the sustainability of their structure and to avoid the errors identified in the present case.

Abstract Among the policies and regulations aimed at reducing the energy use in building stocks, the retrofit of historic buildings is one of the hardest challenges both for research and practice, because it is necessary to combine the traditional energy/economy targets with safeguard programs and conservation theories. In this paper, a decision support system is developed in order to plan and manage energy retrofit campaigns tailored for cultural heritage. Costs and energy uses are assessed, as well as the compatibility of interventions and their impact on indoor environmental quality. The energy use is seen under an economic, environmental, human and cultural perspective, providing a decision-making procedure that could be very useful for asset holders, public or private investors as well as for portfolio managers or agencies. The most important achievements in this work are the assessment of a so-called restoration score as a way to include conservation aspects in the selection procedure, and the integration of different appraisal techniques such as multi-attribute analysis, life cycle costing and analytic hierarchy process.

The EU-funded DEMOSOFC project (www.demosofc.eu) aims to demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of operating a 174 kWe SOFC in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The fuel for the three SOFC modules (3x58 kWe) is biogas, which is available on-site from the anaerobic digestion of sludge collected from the treated wastewater. A heat-recovery loop allows to recover useful thermal energy from the hot SOFC exhaust gases (90-100 kWth). The recovered heat is transferred through a water loop to the sludge, which is pre-heated to 40-45 °C before feeding the digester. A full thermal recovery within the WWPT is thus achieved. Energy generated and recovered from the SOFCs will be consumed at the WWTP and will cover about 30% of the overall electricity demand and 50% of the yearly thermal demand. The WWTP is located in Collegno, in the Turin premises (IT). The Collegno plant is serving around 180’000 Person Equivalent (P.E.), both residential and industrial users, and currently, exploits biogas for heating-only in a boiler. The integrated biogas-SOFC plant includes three main units: 1) the biogas clean-up and compression section; 2) the three SOFC power modules, and 3) the heat recovery loop. The scope of the project is demonstrating the high-efficiency conversion of renewable fuel into electricity and heat. The three SOFC modules are supplied by Convion (www.convion.fi), partner of the DEMOSOFC project. The first module has been shipped to Turin during April 2017, and the demonstration phase will last four years (2017-2020). The expected net electric efficiency of the SOFC is in the range 52-55%. A special focus of the demonstration is the deep and reliable removal of harmful contaminants for the SOFC (mostly H2S and siloxanes) that are found in the raw biogas. In-line and real-time gas analysis are installed to monitor the removal efficiency of the biogas clean-up unit, which relies on solid sorbents (e.g., activated carbons). The present work is related to the first on-field test of the SOFC units and the starting of the entire plant. After having completed mechanical and electrical connections, the first module has been fed by clean and compressed biogas on site produced and activated with a dedicated start-up procedure. The analysis is related to the SOFC operation, with a description of the starting procedure and preliminary performance results. The on-site produced and measured AC electric power is employed for the calculation of the net electrical efficiency; dedicated emissions measurements have been performed with simulated biogas at Convion facilities and will be replied on-site during the system operation. Figure 1

Abstract Nature removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, and by forming carbonate minerals. Following Nature's example, carbon dioxide should not be regarded as a waste, but as a resource from which useful products can be made. Highly concentrated, calcium-rich brines are commonly found associated with subsurface salt deposits. By bringing together the energy and chemical industries, it may be possible to use these brines to lock up carbon dioxide, while at the same time producing calcium carbonate, hydrochloric acid and a variety of other chemical-industrial commodities.

Abstract As renewable energy initiatives intensify, the benefits of optimizing recycled wood waste and forestry residues for bioenergy generation are clear. Self-heating fires and degradation during outdoor pile storage however continue to result in safety risks and economic losses. Furthermore, the storage dynamics of older wood waste material remain understudied. The following presents the longest continuous North American forestry residue storage trial, comparing the storage characteristics of woodchip piles built with fresh and aged material (previously stored for 20 months). Temperature sensors were placed within industrial woodchip piles (consisting primarily of poplar) at Pineland Nurseries (Manitoba, Canada). Monitoring occurred for 459 days (August 2017–November 2018) where samples were periodically characterized for dry-matter loss, pH, bulk density, particle size, moisture, ash and free sugar content. Significantly higher temperatures were sustained in the aged pile throughout the storage trial compared to the fresh pile where temperatures decreased within a month after an initial thermal spike. Decreased particle size and higher moisture content in the aged material appeared to have the most impact on thermal retention. Microorganism reintegration theory supported our findings where initial sugar content did not correlate with higher initial self-heating in the aged pile. This study highlights several critical considerations for forestry residue pile management.

Zinc (Zn) is naturally present in soils and constitutes an essential micronutrient for plants. Mining, industrial, as well as various agricultural activities all contribute to increasing the Zn concentrations in soils to levels that are toxic for plants. The aim of this study was to evaluate the capacity of field crops to remove Zn from contaminated soils. The experimental design included 28 treatments, comprising seven field crops (Hordeum vulgare L., Ricinus communis L., Phaseolus vulgaris L., Brassica juncea Czem., Sorgum vulgare L., Spinacea oleracea L., Solanum lycopersicum L.) and four Zn levels (0, 500, 1000, 1500 mg kg-1) applied to soils. The dry weight (DW) of the aboveground biomass of R. communis and S. lycopersicum increased significantly as the Zn concentration in the soil increased, whereas the DW significantly decreased in P. vulgaris, B. juncea and S. vulgare. Results indicated that S. oleracea was the most efficient in concentrating Zn in the aboveground tissues, followed in decreasing order by H. vulgare, S. lycopersicum, R. communis, S. vulgare, P. vulgaris, and B. juncea. H. vulgare resulted the most efficient in accumulating Zn both in fruit and in leaves and stems, whereas S. lycopersicum resulted the most efficient in accumulating Zn in roots. The BAF and TF values indicated that H. vulgare and S. oleracea resulted being suitable for Zn phytoextraction, whereas the remaining crops being suitable for Zn phytostabilization. These results highlight the phytoremediation potential of the seven analysed crops.