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AbstractBACKGROUND: Inappropriate utilisation of biosolids may adversely impact agrosystem productivity. Here, we address the response of wheat (Triticum durum) to different doses (0, 40, 100, 200 and 300 t ha−1) of either municipal solid waste (MSW) compost or sewage sludge in a greenhouse pot experiment. Plant growth, heavy metal uptake, and antioxidant activity were considered.RESULTS: Biomass production of treated plants was significantly enhanced at 40 t ha−1 and 100 t ha−1 of MSW compost (+48% and +78% relative to the control, respectively). At the same doses of sewage sludge, the increase was only 18%. Higher doses of both biosolids restricted significantly the plant growth, in concomitance with the significant accumulation of heavy metals (Ni2+, Pb2+, Cu2+ and Zn2+), especially in leaves. Leaf activities of antioxidant enzymes (ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione reductase, catalase and superoxide dismutase) were unchanged at 40 t ha−1 MSW compost or sewage sludge, but were significantly stimulated at higher doses (200–300 t ha−1), together with higher leaf concentration of reduced glutathione.CONCLUSION: This preliminary study suggests that a MSW supply at moderate doses (100 t ha−1) could be highly beneficial for wheat productivity. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry

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.

In this paper some preliminary experimental results on a Zebra battery based propulsion system for urban bus applications are presented. The tests were carried out using a laboratory 1:1 scale test bench, composed by a 65 kW electric drive, specifically designed for urban bus applications, supplied by two 20 kWh Zebra batteries connected in parallel. The electric power train was tested on a laboratory bench, connected through a fixed ratio gear box to a 100 kW regenerative electric brake provided with speed and torque controls, in order to evaluate the propulsion system performance in steady state operative conditions. The obtained preliminary experimental results were utilized to implement a Matlab-Simulink model of urban bus, which might be powered by the same electric propulsion system studied. Thanks to this model it was possible to evaluate the dynamic behavior of the urban bus, working on standard driving cycles, taking into account the resistant forces represented by proper vehicle/road/aerodynamic parameters. An evaluation of the expected real vehicle driving range was also estimated in different road conditions.

Intention of this work is to investigate the opportunity and feasibility of energy efficient networking in Home and Building automation protocols. Wired HBAS have traditionally devoted a relatively little attention to this point, especially if compared to wireless networks. This paper will try to address the issue by evaluating the introduction of power state switching in a real scenario and proposing the concept of functional and spatial adjacency among packets.

Emergency building, devoted to give rapid and effective housing solutions to catastrophic and unexpected events, relies on the basic principles of construction rapidity and reversibility as well as the use of alternative energy sources. The growing need for environmental impact reduction in the building sector represents for temporary housing - especially under emergency conditions - a priority requisite, since, after given time lapses, areas occupied with emergency settlements will have to be recovered to their original use. In this case, the buildings' service life does not correspond to the life cycle of their materials and components; as a consequence, design activities will have to assure the dismantability and reusability of structures for further service cycles, making the whole process reversible: from construction to 'zero waste' de-construction. This paper aims at defining design criteria for low-impact emergency dwellings, assessing at the same time their applicability to corrugated steel pipes, obtained by assembling galvanized curved sheets - commonly used for underpasses and conduits - for which different use possibilities have been investigated. In this view, the research program has led to the definition of modular dwelling solutions. Then, technical feasibility studies have been carried out in collaboration with the industrial sector, taking advantage of consolidated production lines for innovative use purposes. Along the different research stages, a methodology has been defined for the assessment of the fundamental sustainability criteria through different simulation procedures; among these, the evaluation of the life-cycle environmental impacts with SimaPRO software and the 3D modelling for the maximization of the construction/environment integration - also in relation to the use of PV modules - have produced interesting results.

Wood biomass is turned into industrial fuel through chipping. The efficiency of chipping depends on many factors, including chipper knife wear. Chipper knife wear was determined through a long-term follow-up study, conducted at a waste wood recycling yard. Knife wear determined a sharp drop of productivity (>20%) and a severe decay in product quality. Dry sharpening with a grinder mitigated this effect, but it could not replace proper wet sharpening. Increasing the frequency of wet sharpening sessions determined a moderate increase of knife depreciation cost, but it could drastically enhance machine performance and reduce biomass processing cost. Since benefits largely exceed costs, increasing the frequency of wet sharpening sessions may be an effective measure for reducing overall chipping cost. If the main goal of a chipper operator is to increase productivity and/or decrease fuel consumption, then managing knife wear should be a primary target. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Alternative fuels and energy vectors are becoming increasingly important in terms of technical, geopolitical, economic, and environmental aspects. In particular, gaseous fuels and vectors, such as fossil or synthetic natural gas (NG) blended with hydrogen, commonly help provide optimal strategies to reduce global and toxic emissions of internal combustion engines, owing to their adaptability, anti-knock capacity, lower toxicity of pollutants, reduced CO2 emissions, and costeffectiveness. However, diesel engines still represent the reference category among internal combustion engines in terms of maximum thermodynamic efficiency. The possibility offered by dual-fuel (DF) systems to combine the efficiency and performance of diesel engines with the environmental advantages of gaseous fuels has been the subject of extensive investigations. However, the simple replacement of diesel fuel with gaseous fuel does not allow for optimising the engine performance, owing to the high percentage of unburned gaseous fuel, which compromises the potential reduction of CO2; therefore, more complex combustion strategies should be realised. In this study, with the aim of improving the DF combustion process, an experimental investigation was performed to analyse low-temperature combustion (LTC), using NG and two enriched hydrogen-compressed NG blends as primary fuels. The LTC mode was activated by means of a very early advanced pilot injection and carried out in two close steps. The double pilot injection was used to control the energy release rate in the first combustion stage, thereby minimizing the increase of the rate of pressure and allowing the extension of the operation range under LTC. The experimental activity was also focused on analysing the particle emissions, as it is well known that these emissions, together with those of nitrogen oxide, constitute the main pollutants resulting from diesel fuel combustion. The results demonstrated the potential to reduce the unburned fuel, NOx, and particle emissions simultaneously, while maintaining equivalent CO2 emissions to a diesel-only engine. Both the timing and pressure of the pilot injection proved to be critical parameters for optimising the emissions and performance

Landfill gas (LFG) tends to escape from the landfill surface even when LFG collecting systems are installed. Since LFG leaks are generally a noticeable percentage of the total production of LFG, the optimisation of the collection system is a fundamental step for both energy recovery and environmental impact mitigation. In this work, we suggest to take into account the results of direct measurements of gas fluxes at the air-cover interface to achieve this goal.During the last 5 years (2004-2009), 11 soil gas emission surveys have been carried out at the Municipal Solid Waste landfill of Legoli (Peccioli municipality, Pisa Province, Italy) by means of the accumulation chamber method. Direct and simultaneous measurements of CH(4) and CO(2) fluxes from the landfill cover (about 140,000 m(2)) have been performed to estimate the total output of both gases discharged into the atmosphere. Three different data processing have been applied and compared: Arithmetic mean of raw data (AMRD), sequential Gaussian conditional simulations (SGCS) and turning bands conditional simulations (TBCS). The total amount of LFG (captured and not captured) obtained from processing of direct measurements has been compared with the corresponding outcomes of three different numerical models (LandGEM, IPCC waste model and GasSim).Measured fluxes vary from undetectable values (<0.05 mol m(-2) day(-1) for CH(4) and <0.02 mol m(-2) day(-1) for CO(2)) to 246 mol m(-2) day(-1) for CH(4) and 275 mol m(-2) day(-1) for CO(2). The specific CH(4) and CO(2) fluxes (flux per surface unit) vary from 1.8 to 7.9 mol m(-2) day(-1) and from 2.4 to 7.8 mol m(-2) day(-1), respectively.The three different estimation methodologies (AMRD, SGCS and TBCS) used to evaluate the total output of diffused CO(2) and CH(4) fluxes from soil provide similar estimations, whereas there are some mismatches between these results and those of numerical LFG production models. Isoflux maps show a non-uniform spatial distribution, with high-flux zones not always corresponding with high-temperature areas shown by thermographic images.The average value estimated over the 5-year period for the Legoli landfill is 245 mol min(-1) for CH(4) and 379 mol min(-1) for CO(2), whereas the volume percentage of CH(4) in the total gas discharged into the atmosphere varies from 29% to 51%, with a mean value of 39%. The estimated yearly emissions from the landfill cover is about 1.29 x 10(8) mol annum(-1) (2,100 t year(-1)) of CH(4) and 1.99 x 10(8) mol annum(-1) (8,800 t year(-1)) of CO(2). Considering that the CH(4) global warming potential is 63 times greater than that of CO(2) (20 a time horizon, Lashof and Ahuja 1990), the emission of methane corresponds to 130,000 t annum(-1) of CO(2).The importance of these studies is to provide data for the worldwide inventory of CH(4) and CO(2) emissions from landfills, with the ultimate aim of determining the contribution of waste disposal to global warming. This kind of studies could be extended to other gas species, like the volatile organic compounds.

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.