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Bioplastics are alternatives of conventional petroleum-based plastics. Bioplastics are polymers processed from renewable sources and are biodegradable. This study aims at conducting an environmental impact assessment of the bioprocessing of agricultural wastes into bioplastics compared to petro-plastics using an LCA approach. Bioplastics were produced from potato peels in laboratory. In a biochemical reaction under heating, starch was extracted from peels and glycerin, vinegar and water were added with a range of different ratios, which resulted in producing different samples of bio-based plastics. Nevertheless, the environmental impact of the bioplastics production process was evaluated and compared to petro-plastics. A life cycle analysis of bioplastics produced in laboratory and petro-plastics was conducted. The results are presented in the form of global warming potential, and other environmental impacts including acidification potential, eutrophication potential, freshwater ecotoxicity potential, human toxicity potential, and ozone layer depletion of producing bioplastics are compared to petro-plastics. The results show that the greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, through the different experiments to produce bioplastics, range between 0.354 and 0.623 kg CO2 eq. per kg bioplastic compared to 2.37 kg CO2 eq. per kg polypropylene as a petro-plastic. The results also showed that there are no significant potential effects for the bioplastics produced from potato peels on different environmental impacts in comparison with poly-β-hydroxybutyric acid and polypropylene. Thus, the bioplastics produced from agricultural wastes can be manufactured in industrial scale to reduce the dependence on petroleum-based plastics. This in turn will mitigate GHG emissions and reduce the negative environmental impacts on climate change.

Background. Laws that enable a circular economy (CE) are being enacted globally, but reliable standardized and digitized CE data about products is scarce, and many CE platforms have differing exclusive formats. In response to these challenges, the Ministry of The Economy of Luxembourg launched the Circularity Dataset Standardization Initiative to develop a globalized open-source industry standard to allow the exchange of standardized data throughout the supply cycle, based on these objectives: (a) Provide basic product circularity data about products. (b) Improve circularity data sharing efficiency. (c) Encourage improved product circularity performance. A policy objective was to have the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) voted to create a working group. Methods. A state-of-play analysis was performed concurrently with consultations with industry, auditors, data experts, and data aggregation platforms. Results. Problem statements were generated. Based on those, a solution called Product Circularity Data Sheet (PCDS) was formulated. A proof of concept (POC) template and guidance were developed and piloted with manufacturers and platforms, thus fulfilling objective (a). For objective (b), IT ecosystem requirements were developed, and aspects are being piloted in third party aggregation platforms. Objective (c) awaits implementation of the IT ecosystem. The policy objective related to the ISO was met. Conclusions and future research. In order to fully test the PCDS, it is necessary to: conduct more pilots, define governance, and establish auditing and authentication procedures.

Los nuevos sistemas inteligentes para ayudar a la transición energética y mejorar la sostenibilidad y la vida de las personas se pueden implementar a diferentes escalas, desde una casa hasta una región entera. Los campus universitarios son un tamaño intermedio interesante (lo suficientemente grande como para importar y lo suficientemente pequeño como para ser manejable) para la investigación, el desarrollo, las pruebas y la capacitación sobre la integración de la inteligencia en todos los niveles, lo que llevó a la aparición del concepto de "campus inteligente" en los últimos años. Este artículo de revisión propone un amplio análisis de la literatura científica sobre campus inteligentes de la última década (2010-2020). Las 182 publicaciones seleccionadas se distribuyen en siete categorías de inteligencia: edificio inteligente, entorno inteligente, movilidad inteligente, vida inteligente, personas inteligentes, gobierno inteligente y datos inteligentes. Las principales preguntas y desafíos abiertos con respecto a los campus inteligentes se presentan al final de la revisión y abordan la sostenibilidad y la transición energética, la aceptabilidad y la ética, los modelos de aprendizaje, las políticas de datos abiertos y la interoperabilidad. El presente trabajo se realizó en el marco de la Red de Energía de la Cumbre de Líderes Regionales (RLS-Energy) como parte de sus esfuerzos de investigación multilateral sobre regiones inteligentes. De nouveaux systèmes intelligents pour aider à la transition énergétique et améliorer la durabilité et la vie des gens peuvent être déployés à différentes échelles, allant d'une maison à une région entière. Les campus universitaires sont une taille intermédiaire intéressante (assez grande pour compter et assez petite pour être maniable) pour la recherche, le développement, les tests et la formation sur l'intégration de l'intelligence à tous les niveaux, ce qui a conduit à l'émergence du concept de « campus intelligent » au cours des dernières années. Cet article de synthèse propose une analyse approfondie de la littérature scientifique sur les campus intelligents de la dernière décennie (2010-2020). Les 182 publications sélectionnées sont réparties en sept catégories d'intelligence : smart building, smart environment, smart mobility, smart living, smart people, smart governance et smart data. Les principales questions et défis ouverts concernant les campus intelligents sont présentés à la fin de l'examen et traitent de la durabilité et de la transition énergétique, de l'acceptabilité et de l'éthique, des modèles d'apprentissage, des politiques de données ouvertes et de l'interopérabilité. Le présent travail a été réalisé dans le cadre du Réseau de l'énergie du Sommet des dirigeants régionaux (RLS-Energy) dans le cadre de ses efforts multilatéraux de recherche sur les régions intelligentes. Novel intelligent systems to assist the energy transition and improve sustainability and people's life can be deployed at different scales, ranging from a house to an entire region. University campuses are an interesting intermediate size (big enough to matter and small enough to be tractable) for research, development, test and training on the integration of smartness at all levels, which led to the emergence of the concept of "smart campus" over the last few years. This review article proposes an extensive analysis of the scientific literature on smart campuses from the last decade (2010-2020). The 182 selected publications are distributed into seven categories of smartness: smart building, smart environment, smart mobility, smart living, smart people, smart governance and smart data. The main open questions and challenges regarding smart campuses are presented at the end of the review and deal with sustainability and energy transition, acceptability and ethics, learning models, open data policies and interoperability. The present work was carried out within the framework of the Energy Network of the Regional Leaders Summit (RLS-Energy) as part of its multilateral research efforts on smart regions. يمكن نشر أنظمة ذكية جديدة للمساعدة في انتقال الطاقة وتحسين الاستدامة وحياة الناس على مستويات مختلفة، تتراوح من منزل إلى منطقة بأكملها. تعتبر الجامعات ذات حجم متوسط مثير للاهتمام (كبيرة بما يكفي لتكون مهمة وصغيرة بما يكفي لتكون قابلة للتتبع) للبحث والتطوير والاختبار والتدريب على تكامل الذكاء على جميع المستويات، مما أدى إلى ظهور مفهوم "الحرم الجامعي الذكي" على مدى السنوات القليلة الماضية. تقترح مقالة المراجعة هذه تحليلاً شاملاً للأدبيات العلمية حول الجامعات الذكية من العقد الماضي (2010-2020). يتم توزيع المنشورات الـ 182 المختارة على سبع فئات من الذكاء: البناء الذكي، والبيئة الذكية، والتنقل الذكي، والمعيشة الذكية، والأشخاص الأذكياء، والحوكمة الذكية، والبيانات الذكية. يتم تقديم الأسئلة والتحديات الرئيسية المفتوحة المتعلقة بالحرم الجامعي الذكي في نهاية المراجعة والتعامل مع الاستدامة وانتقال الطاقة والقبول والأخلاقيات ونماذج التعلم وسياسات البيانات المفتوحة وقابلية التشغيل البيني. تم تنفيذ العمل الحالي في إطار شبكة الطاقة التابعة لقمة القادة الإقليميين (RLS - Energy) كجزء من جهودها البحثية متعددة الأطراف حول المناطق الذكية.

Abstract Biofuels and the oleochemical industry are highly dependent on plant oils for the generation of renewable product lines. Consequently, production of plant lipids, such as palm and rapeseed oil, for industrial applications competes with agricultural activity and is associated with a negative environmental impact. Additionally, established chemical routes for upgrading bio-lipids to renewable products depend on metal-containing catalysts. Metal leaching during oil processing results in heavy metal contaminated process wastewater. This water is difficult to remediate and leads to the loss of precious metals. Therefore, the biofuels and chemical industry requires sustainable solutions for production and upgrading of bio-lipids. With regard to the former, a promising approach is the fermentative conversion of abundant, low-value biomass into microbial, particularly yeast-based lipids. This study describes the holistic, value-adding conversion of underexploited, macroalgae feedstocks into yeast oil, animal feed and biosorbents for metal-based detoxification of process wastewater. The initial step comprises a selective enzymatic liquefaction step that yields a supernatant containing 62.5% and 59.3% (w/dwbiomass) fermentable sugars from L. digitata and U. lactuca, respectively. By dispensing with chemical pretreatment constraints, we achieved a 95% (w/w) glucose recovery. Therefore, the supernatant was qualified as a cultivation media without any detoxification step or nutrition addition. Additionally, the hydrolysis step provided 27–33% (w/dwbiomass) of a solid residue, which was qualified as a metal biosorbent. Cultivation of the oleaginous yeast C. oleaginosus on the unprocessed hydrolysis supernatant provided 44.8 g L−1 yeast biomass containing 37.1% (w/dwbiomass) lipids. The remaining yeast biomass after lipid extraction is targeted as a performance animal feed additive. Selectivity and capacity of solid macroalgae residues as biosorbents were assessed for removal and recycling of rare and heavy metals, such as Ce+3, Pb+2, Cu+2 and Ni+2 from model wastewater. The biosorption capacity of the macroalgae residues (sorption capacity ∼ 0.7 mmol g−1) exceeds that of relevant commercially available adsorption resins and biosorbents. To facilitate the integration of our technology in existing chemical and biotechnological production environments, we have devised simple, rapid and cost-efficient methods for monitoring both lipogenesis and metal sorption processes. The application of the new optical monitoring tools is essential to determine yeast cell harvesting times and biosorption capacities respectively. For the first time we report on a waste-free bioprocess that combines sustainable, microbial lipid production from low value marine biomass with in-process precious metal recycling options. Our data allowed for a preliminary economic analysis, which indicated that each product could be cost competitive with current market equivalents. Hence, the synaptic nature of the technology platform provides for the economic and ecologic viability of the overall process chain.

Impacts in the form of innovation and commercialization are essential components of publicly funded research projects. PHUSICOS ("According to nature" in Greek), an EU Horizon 2020 program (H2020) Innovation Action project, aims to demonstrate the use of nature-based solutions (NBS) to mitigate hydrometeorological hazards in rural and mountainous areas. The work program is built around key innovation actions, and each Work Package (WP) leader is specifically responsible for nurturing innovation processes, maintaining market focus, and ensuring relevance for the intended recipients of the project results. Key success criteria for PHUSICOS include up-scaling and mainstream implementation of NBS to achieve broader market access. An innovation strategy and supporting tools for implementing this within PHUSICOS has been developed and key concepts forming the basis for this strategy are presented in this research note.

The H2020 project TWIN-PEAKS emphasises on promoting excellence and knowledge to develop advanced waste gasification solutions as well as incorporating power-to-X concept (PtX) by establishing a research and innovation collaboration between Lithuanian Energy Institute (LEI, Lithuania), Vytautas Magnus University (VDU, Lithuania), Technical University of Munich (TUM, Germany), Chalmers University of Technology (CTH, Sweden), and WIP (Germany). The final goal is to raise the scientific excellence, capacities and international reputation of LEI and VMU in these respective fields. This will be achieved by the planned project activities, such as training, summer schools, conference and outreach events, dedicated for early-stage and advanced researchers. One of the key activities and milestones is the adoption of a joint research strategy between project partners, which is based on three research pillars: (plasma-enhanced) gasification processes, (plasma-assisted) methanation and feedstocks and utilization pathways. The strategy fully reflects the aims and goals of Lithuania and European Union, which are defined in Lithuania’s National Energy Independence Strategy, a national law on the Usage of Alternative Fuels and European Green Deal, including circular economy and climate change initiatives and ambitions. A short outlook regarding the current situation and perspectives in waste-to-energy and power-to-X in Lithuania is also described. Finally, a short description on how the adopted research strategy may contribute to the achievement of the goals defined in national and EU initiatives is also provided. Proceedings of the 29th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 26-29 April 2021, Online, pp. 1396-1399

Abstract This work presents a novel strategy to numerically predict CO emissions in gas turbines that operate under part-load conditions employing fuel-staging concepts. In multi-burner systems, fuel can be redistributed to solely run a fraction of the available burners. The situation of active burners interacting with air from adjacent cold burners may lead to quenching effects. Our group recently published a flamelet-based combustion model for low-reactive conditions. Furthermore, a model was proposed for the prediction of CO beyond the assumption of thin reaction zones. These models are adopted in this work and further extended in order to capture quenching. All models are implemented and applied to a simple geometry for the purpose of demonstrating basic mechanisms that are relevant for fuel-staged gas turbines operating at part load conditions. Furthermore, validation is performed in a silo combustor that comprises 37 burners. Here, burner groups are switched off during part load, leading to intense interaction between hot and cold burners. Major improvement in comparison to CO predictions from the flamelet-based combustion model is achieved. It is demonstrated that the model is able to predict the correct values of global CO emissions. Furthermore, the models capacity of handling fuel-staging mechanisms like the CO drop during a burner switch-off event is shown.

AbstractA new method is developed to produce mesoporous titania thin films at room temperature using the enzyme papain in a dip‐coating procedure, providing low‐cost titania films in a sustainable manner. Quartz crystal microbalance, positron annihilation Doppler broadening and lifetime spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X‐ray diffraction are used to determine the deposition and structural properties of the films. As‐deposited films have low densities ρ ≈ 0.6 g cm−3, contain small micropores and proteins, and exhibit corrugated surfaces. Annealing at temperatures of 300 °C or higher leads to the destruction and evaporation of most of the organic material, resulting in a thickness decrease of 50–60%, more pure titania films with increased density, an increase in micropore size and a decrease in the concentration and size of atomic‐scale vacancies. Up to 50 layers could be stacked, allowing easy control over the total layer thickness. Based on these titania films, first test devices consisting of natural dye‐sensitized solar cells are produced, that show photovoltaic activity and indicate possibilities for low‐cost, accessible, organic production of solar cells. Given the wide range of other applications for titania, this new method is a promising candidate for improving the fabrication of those products with respect to cost, sustainability, and production speed.

The transition to a low carbon future is starting to affect landscapes around the world. In order for this landscape transformation to be sustainable, renewable energy technologies should not cause critical trade-offs between the provision of energy and that of other ecosystem services such as food production. This literature review advances the body of knowledge on sustainable energy transition with special focus on ecosystem services-based approaches and methods. Two key issues emerge from this review: only one sixth of the published applications on the relation between renewable energy and landscape make use of the ecosystem service framework. Secondly, the applications that do address ecosystem services for landscape planning and design lack efficient methods and spatial reference systems that accommodate both cultural and regulating ecosystem services. Future research efforts should be directed to further advancing the spatial reference systems, the use of participatory mapping and landscape visualizations tools for cultural ecosystem services and the elaboration of landscape design principles.

Abstract From model and case studies based on small samples it is clear that specific greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of energy supply from biogas are strongly dependent of system characteristics and scope. We derive prescriptive statistics for the GHG balance of electricity production from agricultural biogas systems on the basis of a large audit data set. System boundaries include upstream processes, the production of energy crops (EC), the anaerobic digestion process, the storage of digestate, and the utilization of biogas in a combined heat-and-power-unit (CHPU). For our sample of 593 biogas systems the calculated specific CO2-equivalent-emissions of electricity fed into the public grid range from −1,730 to 821 g kWh−1 (mean value ± standard deviation: 307 ± 125 g kWh−1; interquartile range: 249–384 g kWh−1). For the sample as a whole, the mix of input materials on a mass basis consists of 58% EC and 42% animal manure (AM). With this mix, the substrate supply chain contributes 56.3% to the total GHG-emissions of the biogas systems. To fully compensate GHG-emissions from EC production by avoided emissions from AM storage, the ratio AM/EC would need to be increased about fivefold. This result shows that in order to be sustainable, a biogas system in agriculture needs to be understood more as a servicing function to farming rather than the purpose of farming. Other dominant sources of GHG-emissions are the methane slip from the CHPU, biogas losses and parasitic electricity demand.