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According to the renewable energy directive 2009/28/EC, the European Union Member States should increase by 2020 the use of renewable energy to 20% of gross final energy consumption and to reach a mandatory share of 10% renewable energy in the transport sector. This study aims to quantify the impact of 2020 bioenergy targets on the land use in the EU, based on the projections of the National Renewable Action Plans in four scenarios: Scenario 1. Bioenergy targets according to NREAPs; Scenario 2. Bioenergy targets according to NREAPs, no second generation biofuels; Scenario 3. Bioenergy targets according to NREAPs, reduced import of biofuels and bioliquids; Scenario 4. Bioenergy targets according to NREAPs, high imports of biofuels and bioliquids. This study also considers the credit for co-products generated from biofuel production. The analysis reveals that the land used in the EU for bioenergy would range between 13.5 Mha and 25.2 Mha in 2020. This represent between 12.2% and 22.5% of the total arable land used and 7.3% and 13.5% of the Utilised Agricultural Area (UAA). In the NREAPS scenario, about 17.4 Mha would be used for bioenergy production, representing 15.7% of arable land and 9.4% of UAA. The increased demand from biofuels would lead to an increased generation of co-products, replacing conventional fodder for animal feed. Considering the co-products, the land used for bioenergy would range between 8.8 Mha and 15.0 Mha in 2020 in the various scenarios. This represent between 7.9% and 13.3% of the total arable land used in the EU and 4.7% and 8.0% of the UAA. In the NREAPS scenario, when co-products are considered, about 10.3 Mha would be used for biofuels, bioliquids and bioenergy production, representing 9.3% of arable land and 5.6% of agricultural land. This study further provides detailed data on the impact on land use in each Member State.

The paper proposes a critical assessment of municipal solid waste gasification today, starting from basic aspects of the process (process types and steps, operating and performance parameters) and arriving to a comparative analysis of the reactors (fixed bed, fluidized bed, entrained bed, vertical shaft, moving grate furnace, rotary kiln, plasma reactor) as well as of the possible plant configurations (heat gasifier and power gasifier) and the environmental performances of the main commercially available gasifiers for municipal solid wastes. The analysis indicates that gasification is a technically viable option for the solid waste conversion, including residual waste from separate collection of municipal solid waste. It is able to meet existing emission limits and can have a remarkable effect on reduction of landfill disposal option.

A procedure for the design of an aerobic cometabolic process for the on-site degradation of chlorinated solvents in a packed bed reactor was developed using groundwater from an aquifer contaminated by trichloroethylene (TCE) and 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane (TeCA). The work led to the selection of butane among five tested growth substrates, and to the development and characterization from the site's indigenous biomass of a suspended-cell consortium capable to degrade TCE (first order constant: 96 L gprotein(-1) day(-1) at 30 °C and 4.3 L gprotein(-1) day(-1) at 15 °C) with a 90 % mineralization of the organic chlorine. The consortium immobilization had strong effects on the butane and TCE degradation rates. The microbial community structure was slightly changed by a temperature shift from 30 to 15 °C, but remarkably affected by biomass adhesion. Given the higher TCE normalized degradation rate (0.59 day(-1) at 15 °C) and attached biomass concentration (0.13 gprotein Lbioreactor(-1) at 15 °C) attained, the porous ceramic carrier Biomax was selected as the best option for the packed bed reactor process. The low TeCA degradation rate exhibited by the developed consortium suggested the inclusion of a chemical pre-treatment based on the TeCA to TCE conversion via β-elimination, a very fast reaction at alkaline pH. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this represents the first attempt to develop a procedure for the development of a packed bed reactor process for the aerobic cometabolism of chlorinated solvents.

The importance of emission control has increased sharply due to increased need of energy from combustion. However, biomass utilization in energy production is not free from problems because of physical and chemical characteristics which are substantially different from conventional energy sources. In this situation, the quantity and quality of emissions as well as used renewable source as wood or corn grain are often unknown. To assess this problem the paper addresses the objectives to quantify the amount of greenhouse gases during the combustion of corn as compared to the emissions in fossil combustion (natural gas, LPG and diesel boiler). The test was carried out in Friuli Venezia Giulia in 2006-2008 to determine the air pollution (CO, NO, NO2, NOx, SO2 and CO2) from fuel combustion in the family boilers with power between 20-30 kWt. The flue gas emission was measured with a professional semi-continuous multi-gas analyzer, (Vario plus industrial, MRU air Neckarsulm-Obereisesheim). Data showed a lower emission of fossil fuel compared to corn in family boilers in reference to pollutants in the flue gas (NOx, SO2 and CO). In particular way the biomass combustion make a higher concentration of carbon monoxide (for a incomplete combustion because there aren’t a good mixing between fuel and air) and nitrogen oxides (in relation at higher content of nitrogen in herbaceous biomass in comparison of another fuel). Proceedings of the 19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 6-10 June 2011, Berlin, Germany, pp. 1296-1304

The main challenge for concrete industry - and in general for construction materials - is to serve the two major needs of human society, the protection of the environment, on one hand, and the requirements of buildings and infrastructures by the world?s growing population, on the other. In the past concrete industry has satisfied these needs well. However, for a variety of reasons, the situation has changed dramatically in the last years. First of all, the concrete industry is the largest consumer of natural resources. Secondly, Portland cement, the binder of modern concrete mixtures, is not as environmentally friendly. The world's cement production, in fact, contributes to the earth's atmosphere about 7% of the total CO2 emissions, CO2 being one of the primary greenhouse gas (GHG) responsible for global warming and climate change. As a consequence, concrete industry in the future has to face two antithetically needs. In other words, how the concrete industry can feed the growing population needs being - at the same time - sustainable? The answer to this question is represented by the ?3R-Green Strategy? widely discussed in the first chapter of this PhD thesis: Reduction in consumption of gross energy for construction materials production, Reduction in polluting emissions and Reduction in consuming not renewable natural resources. In particular, this thesis is focused on the alternative binders to Portland cement such as alkali-activated slag cements and calcium sulphoaluminate cement-based binders in order to manufacture sustainable mixtures for special applications such as repair mortars, lightweight reinforced plasters and concretes for slabs on ground. The experimental results show the feasibility of manufacturing both EN 1504-3 R3 class mortars and Portland-free concretes for jointless slabs on ground with calcium sulphoaluminate cement, supplementary cementitious materials (fly ash, ground granulated blast furnace slag) and hydrated lime instead of Portland cement. Moreover, alkali-activated mortars and concretes seem to be a reasonable alternative to natural hydraulic lime-based and/or traditional Portland cement-based mixtures for rehabilitation or restoration of ancient masonry buildings and existing concretes structures. Finally, a new sustainability index was developed taking into account the environmental impact, the performances and the durability of mixtures. In particular, in the environmental impact section, the natural raw materials consumption, the greenhouse gas emissions and the energy consumption have been considered. Furthermore, depending on the applications and the environments, design parameters and properties related to durability have been assigned to each mixture. less

A Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) is a strategic (long period) transportation plan aimed to improve welfare of both people and workers living in the city as well as in its surrounding area. Compared to “traditional” urban transportation plans, SUMP moves the focus from traffic (vehicles) to people with significant advancements in the direction of a sustainable mobility jointly with the quality of life. According to the recent European Guidelines, this type of strategic plan has to be built on existing planning practices and take due consideration: the integration, the participation, and evaluation. Starting from these considerations, in absence of a detailed national guideline implementing SUMP, the aim of this paper was to apply an innovative theoretical decision-making approachfor the development of the Naples (Italy) SUMP. This case study appears to be interesting because of the specificity of Naples, that is the third largest Italian city and metropolitan area with the highest population density. In 2016, the city of Naples has efficiently concluded and ratified a first formalization of acts: 'The analysis of mobility system' and ‘The statement of strategic objectives

A new farm economic typology has recently been introduced in the EU. This study compares the economic performance of wine-grape growers in four important quality wine areas of Sicily taking into account the different EU economic typology standards of standard gross margin (the old method) and standard output (the new method). The objective of this study is to identify the differences between the two methods and to ascertain the potential implications for small wine-grape growers’ profitability and their access to public support. We seek to determine whether restrictions can be identified that limit the potential benefits from rural development policies.For this purpose, we applied the economic criteria of the EU to a representative sample of Sicilian wine-grape growers in order to compare the economic profitability of wine-grape farms in protected designation of origin areas. This comparative approach has allowed us to categorize the economic size of the sample in accordance with recent EU modifications a...

Abstract Potential energy feedstocks from conventional agriculture usually include pure vegetable oil (PVO) and agricultural/forest residues. Their uses can represent a starting point for the development of short agro-energy chains in the south areas of the Mediterranean region. This paper focused on testing and awareness raising of biofuel production for the cogeneration of electricity and heat from PVO of two Brassica oilseed crops in Sicily (Italy). The main aims of this study were: i) to evaluate the agronomic performance of rapeseed (Brassica napus L. var. oleifera D.C.) and Ethiopian mustard (Brassica carinata A. Braun) in semi-arid climate condition; ii) to analyze the quality of PVO and the chemical-physical characteristics of pure vegetable oils, defatted seed meals and crop residues of the two species; iii) to define the economic viability of a pilot combined heat and power (CHP) plant operating on PVO. In this study, seed and crop residue yields were determined at the harvesting stage on a harvest area of 10 m2. For each species, chemical-physical characterizations were carried out using specific protocols. The cogeneration of heat and electricity was carried out using a CHP system with a nominal power of 75 kWh. The final stage of the study focused on the economic viability analysis of the CHP system. Seed yields of rapeseed and Ethiopian mustard were 2.10 and 1.16 t ha−1 on average, respectively. Ethiopian mustard obtained the highest performance of aboveground biomass yield (5.31 t ha−1). The fatty acid profiles of the PVO resulted different for the two oilseed crops. Ethiopian mustard had, on average, the highest glucosinolate content in the seeds. The cogenerator showed a consumption of 14.4 kg PVO h−1 on average. Cash-flow trend analysis showed good economic benefit for farmers. These results make the two species as promising energy crops for suitable short agro-energy chains in the south Mediterranean areas.